Key Citations:
1. Besser, T. (2013). Resilient small rural towns and community shocks. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 8.1, 117-134.
2. Blanchard, T.C., Tolbert, C., & Mencken, C. (2012). The health and wealth of US counties: how the small business environment impacts alternative measures of development. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 5.1, 149-162. Available at: http://businessreport.com/editorial-pdfs/small-business-study.pdf
3. 2013 Independent Business Survey. (2013). Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Available at: http://www.ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-Survey.pdf.
4. Blanchard, T. C., C. Tolbert, and C. Mencken. 2012. “The Health and Wealth of US Counties: How the Small Business Environment Impacts Alternative Measures of Development.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5(1):149–62.
5. Blanchard, Troy C., Jing Li, Carson Mencken, and Charles M. Tolbert. 2012. “Entrepreneurial Environment and the Prevalence of Diabetes in U.S. Counties.” ISRN Public Health 2012:1–5.
Local Business Vitality
Small and locally owned businesses stimulate a great deal of economic growth and activity at the community-level. Locally-owned businesses (i.e., 0-4 employees) are more likely to be integrated in the civic infrastructure of the community. A local entrepreneurial culture promotes population health through collective efficacy, which “provides a problem- solving capacity to addressing public health problems.” A strong entrepreneurial environment is associated with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes, and some research suggests that “curbing diabetes prevalence should utilize the business community as a key agent of social change. The Local Business Vitality indicator reports the local- capitalism, of each neighborhood, by calculating the proportion of small, locally-owned businesses. Although the Local Business Vitality indicator is found under the Economic Health domain, it is also relevant to the Employment Opportunities, Social Cohesion, and Neighborhood Characteristics domains. The Local Business Vitality indicator was calculated using data from the U.S. Census and InfoGroup, Inc.