Prof. Lawrence Summers on rural America (last fall)

Chris Arnade and Sarah McCammon were just commenting on Twitter about this op-ed/essay by Lawrence Summers in the Financial Times last fall.  Summers is, of course, a former president of Harvard University (where he now merely a professor) and a former economics advisor to President Barack Obama.  Here's a screen shot of the McCammon/Arnade Tweet.

Like Arnade and McCammon, apparently, I missed this when it first ran, but it's well worth some attention for what it says about Summers' ignorance of rural America--before and, to some extent it seems, after--a road trip he and his wife took from Chicago to Portland last fall.  He notes that they drove only on two-lane roads and that the "larger cities" they passed through included Dubuque, Iowa (population 57,637); Cody, Wyoming (population 9,520) and Bozeman, Montana (population 46,596, and a rather dramatic example of "rural gentrification," I might add).

Some excerpts follow with a focus on two themes of the essay:  emptiness and remoteness. 

Driving across America, as opposed to looking down from a plane, makes clear how much of this vast country is uninhabited.

* * *  

Much of the land we saw was not only uninhabited but also seemed put to little economic use — valleys too arid to farm or even to support ranching; mountain ranges too rugged (vulnerable to snow or falling rock or fire) to support year round economic activity. We drove past some romantic ghost towns but more abandoned cafés, gas stations and hotels.

(As for the abandoned cafes, gas stations and hotels, I must say I have noticed many such businesses for sale in recent years as I have driven through the more rural parts of far northern California/the would-be State of Jefferson).

We were also struck by how remote the concerns of the coasts seemed. TVs in bars and restaurants were rarely turned to news channels. No one seemed terribly concerned with the controversy over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. We saw 15 roadside signs opposing abortion for every other political sign of any kind.

The focus on the emptiness of the land and local concerns reminds me, at least in tone, of this from a Princeton University professor in fall, 2017, marveling that timber and timber production matter in the places with which she is unfamiliar/just learning about.  And here's another post based on wide-eyed tourism into rural America, though the conclusions drawn here are more positive (if also a bit pollyanna).

I suppose the Summers essay also just reflects an economist's way of seeing things:  that which is not productive is not worthy or worthwhile, though an argument could be made that this very emptiness is part of what attracts some folks to remote places.  It is also part of what attracts tourists to the West, another phenomenon that seems to surprise Summer as worthy of note.

I'm thinking this essay was only published by the Financial Times because, well, it was written by Prof. Summers. 

I'm also thinking about the ways in which this piece sheds light on what Harvard's leadership knows of rural America and therefore how it values (or not) rural students, a topic of this post from last fall.