Corresponding author

Oluwole OWOYE, Department of Social Sciences, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut, USA

Co-authors

Olugbenga A. ONAFOWORA, Department of Economics, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, USA

Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth and Development in Communities across the United States

Pages

391-410

Abstract

This study provides a theoretical analysis of sustainable economic growth and development in different communities across the United States.  In this paper, we contend that there are two distinct communities at the citywide or statewide or nationwide levels. In big cities and towns nationwide, the wealthy communities co-exist with the poor-marginalized communities. The main objective of any country, including the United States, is to achieve high employment and sustainable economic growth and development at all levels. Countries worldwide are made up of different communities, therefore, sustainable growth and development would be achievable if policymakers adopt and implement growth policies that bridge the gap between the wealthy and poor-marginalized communities. To analyze this for the United States, we use the Cobb-Douglas-type aggregate production function that assumes technology as knowledge capital – a public good that is nonrival and nonexcludable, and we highlight five important inputs (physical capital, human capital, security/safety, trust, and social capital) that are plausible determinants of the income disparity between and among communities or cities across the United States. We assert that the wealthy communities in the United States tend to invest more in physical capital, human capital, security/safety of lives and properties, entrenched trust, and social capital than the poor-marginalized communities; therefore, these differences could explain the disparity between communities. We argue that it is possible to attain apparent convergence and minimize income inequality in order to achieve sustainable growth and development across communities in the United States if policymakers address these important fundamental causes of the disparity in income. We conclude that the poor-marginalized communities can catch-up with the wealthy communities by intensifying their investment in these relevant factors of production; and that capital can flow from the wealthy to the poor-marginalized communities (or in both directions) if both communities build mutually on trust, security/safety, and social capital.

JEL classification

O11, O15, R10, R11

Keywords

Sustainable Development, Poor-Marginalized Communities, Physical Capital, Human Capital, Trust, Security, Social Capital

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