Carpenter, Megan M. --- "Introduction" [2012] ELECD 542; in Carpenter, M. Megan (ed), "Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies

Editor(s): Carpenter, M. Megan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857934697

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Carpenter, Megan M.

Number of pages: 5

Extract:

1. Introduction
Megan M. Carpenter

In the book Creativity, Law, And Entrepreneurship,1 I discussed growing
up with the comforting undertones of the mine reports on radio stations
in Appalachia in the 1970s. "Loveridge, will work. Blacksville, will work.
Sentinel, will work." For a mining community, the mine reports provided
announcements for the workers as to which coal mines (and therefore,
which coal miners) would and would not work on any given day. More
indirectly, those reports served as an indicator of economic vitality. There
was a comfort in hearing those reports in the mornings. There was stability
in the mines. Men would set their career path at the age of 18 or 19, and
they were thereafter part of a much larger economic engine. Eventually,
however, the economic climate shifted. Mechanization of mining activity
created less demand for workers. The mine reports did not report "will
work" as often. Eventually, the reports stopped altogether.
The small town where I grew up is like thousands of other communities
in the United States. This small town had in its boom been dependent
upon primary and secondary sector industries--specifically, mining and
manufacturing. Because of a decrease in traditional industry, the economy
of the town at large began to suffer; this problem was exacerbated in the
downtown area when a shopping mall was built outside city limits. By
the time I was growing up, the town seemed much closer to bust than
boom. The tales recounted to me by my grandmother, tales ...