Why do regions fail?
In Mississippi, public policymakers, elected officials at all levels (local, state and federal) and community leaders of every stripe continually discuss ways to improve the Mississippi Delta. There has been no shortage of studies, initiatives and funding programs for just about everything imaginable. Although there are some bright spots, one wonders why there has not been more improvement in the region as a whole. With that backdrop, I was especially interested in an article at the Daily Yonder website entitled Speak Your Piece: Why regions Fail , written by Jason Bailey. The first sentence reads, “What’s kept Eastern Kentucky from prosperity?” The author first discusses a critique of the region by outside observers, and then posits that one of the problems with such “diagnoses” is that it is too narrow. We should look at the greater historical and economic context about why the families in the region live the way that they do, he says. Reference is then made