Gansauer: A Taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’
In For Growth or Equity: A Taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’ Place-Based Policies and Implications for US Regional Inequality, Grete Gansauer (Earth Sciences, Montana State University) develops a new taxonomy for classifying major place-based policy approaches passed during the Biden administration to promote national economic development while also providing investment for left-behind places.
Gansauer focuses on four major bills passed as part of the pillars of “Bidenomics” which attempt to implement place-based policies focused on stimulating regional economies as opposed to people-based policies which focus primarily on disadvantaged groups. These policy initiatives were promoted as a comprehensive approach to improving economic efficiency and achieving economic equity across geographic regions of the United States.
The four categories of the taxonomy developed by Gansauer are national boosters, regional boosters, regional asset builders, and national equity builders. The two “booster” groups include policies that focus primarily on promoting economic growth and competition while the two “builder” groups focus alternatively on fiscal and social equity. The policies are additionally divided by their intended impact on either the regional or national scale. The author uses analysis of the written policies, interviews, and deductive conclusions drawn from public forums on the strategic intent of these policies to make these classifications. By categorizing these initiatives within the newly developed taxonomy, Gansauer identifies both the intention behind the programs and possible risks or shortfalls.
The policy implications of this research, as presented by the author, reveal shortcomings in these policy approaches in addressing regional inequities that span the urban-rural divide. Gansauer also notes that rural and Indigenous groups face additional challenges in accessing the federal programming developed under these place-based policies. The author urges further consideration of these issues in addition to the continued use of place-based policies to leverage regional economic competition to address the dual goals of efficiency and equity.
