Michael Shepherd
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mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social
Michael Shepherd
@mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social
1.6K followers 630 following 11 posts
Assistant Professor, Political Scientist, University of Michigan School of Public Health. Rural Politics and Health Disparities.

https://www.michaeleshepherd.com
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mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social
New Deal public works spending was unequal. Western, Midwestern, and Appalachian states received more government infrastructure spending during the New Deal. These communities continue to have larger public sector workforces today. DOGE cuts hurt American communities well beyond DC!
Map of quintiles of county-level public works spending from the New Deal. Counties in the West, upper Midwest, and Appalachia received larger shares of New Deal infrastructure spending.
March 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
mshepruralpolitics.bsky.social
DOGE government workforce cuts have shaped the news. Communities across the county will be negatively affected by these cuts. Who will be affected most? The places that benefited most from the New Deal!

New working paper with @brianhamel.bsky.social: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fspol...
Image of abstract for working paper. We argue that places that benefited from New Deal infrastructure investments in the 1930s and 1940s continue to have the largest government workforces. Image of coefficient plots of the relationship between New Deal spending on public sector employment from 1940-2020. Communities that experienced New Deal investments continue to have more public sector employment as a percentage of their workforce. There is no evidence that these communities already had higher shares of government workers.
March 14, 2025 at 12:59 PM