Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Tunica Miracle, Sin and Savior in America's Ethiopia: A Poverty & Social Impact Analysis of Casino Gaming in Tunica, MS

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

Over the last decade, casino gaming development has been widely adopted in the US as a means for fostering employment growth and generating tax revenue, particularly in distressed areas. This trend has received widespread attention with regard to its overall economic and social effects, yet its impacts on the well-being of individuals living in persistently poor places remains unknown. This doctoral dissertation research improvement project questions the extent to which the benefits of casino development extend to resident poverty populations. Specifically, the study will assess the character and distributional impacts of the casino gaming industry on those residing in one of the nation's historically most impoverished counties, Tunica County (MS), by way of a poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA) methodology. PSIA represents a multi-faceted, contextual approach to research in which mixed methods are employed to capture the complexities of economic, social, cultural, and political relationships in the manifestation and persistence of poverty. As such, multiple theoretical points of departure will be taken, in relation to: (1) the economic and political history of poverty in the Mississippi Delta, (2) the racial, cultural, and spatial construction of poverty in Tunica County, (3) casino gaming as an economic growth strategy and the embeddedness of the industry in Mississippi over the last decade, and (4) the sectoral, fiscal, and distributional impacts of casino development. In addition, alternative perspectives on the meaning of poverty and well-being will be considered through individual accounts of living conditions and casino impacts by the local poverty population. This research will demonstrate that the analysis of casino gaming impacts at multiple scales, using a variety of methods for data collection and examination, produces divergent and contradictory results. Therefore, our understanding of the success of gaming as an economic growth strategy is dependent on the unit of analysis, the method or combination of methods applied, and the characteristics of the place. Further, situating poverty and social impact analysis in the economic and political geography of the casino development area will detail questionable politics of class, congruent with the region's history of race relations, as the primary factor in determining the poverty outcome. Thus, it is argued that the "miracle" of casino gaming in Tunica County and its measure of effect in ameliorating poverty is contextually and conceptually driven-the impact of casino gaming on Tunica County poverty is socially constructed in place as well as a social construction of place. This doctoral dissertation research will advance our understanding of the value of casino gaming as an economic growth strategy by examining the actual economic effects of an ongoing development activity. It will address the manner in which those effects impact resident and vulnerable populations, an area of study where many assumptions and anecdotal evidence exist, but where factual knowledge is lacking. This research will provide community groups and policy-makers with insight into the relationships between economic growth and development and their ability to produce positive outcomes for society as a whole while also targeting the needs of a specific segment of the population. Such information is essential in devising more effective development strategies and ways of ensuring that the benefits are distributed to underprivileged populations in a meaningful way. Further, PSIA, as defined by the World Bank and piloted around the developing world, has yet to be given serious consideration in the US case. Therefore, this study will contribute to scientific research by extending the testing of an integrated methodology for impact analysis to the poverty context of a developed nation. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, this award will also provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.