Small Business and Community Health Research
WACO, Texas - Counties and parishes with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations - with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes - than do those that rely on large companies with "absentee" owners, according to a national study by sociologists at Baylor University and LSU.
"Some communities appear to have thriving small business sectors that feature entrepreneurial cultures that promote public health. A place like this has a can-do climate, a practical problem-solving approach in which a community takes control of its own destiny," said study co-author Charles M. Tolbert, Ph.D., chair of the sociology department in the College of Arts & Sciences at Baylor. "The alternative is the attitude that 'Things are out of our control.'"
The study of 3,060 counties and parishes in the contiguous United States has been published in the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.
Related News Release
Related Links
Bio of Charles Tolbert, Ph.D.: Charles Tolbert, Ph.D.
Bio of Carson Mencken, Ph.D.: Carson Mencken, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology: Department of Sociology
News reports about the study:
Huffington Post, Feb. 9, 2012: Small Businesses Make Communities Healthier, Study Says
FOXBusiness, Feb. 2, 2012: Healthy Small Businesses Keep Local Residents Healthy Too
The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 8, 2012: Study by Baylor and LSU finds link between small business and health
Business News Daily, Feb. 8, 2012: Healthy Local Economies Make Residents Healthy, Too
Science Daily, Feb. 2, 2012U.S. Counties With Thriving Small Businesses Have Healthier Residents
Live Science, Feb. 8,2012: Healthy Local Economies Make Residents Healthy, Too
Contact Information: Terry Goodrich, (254) 710-3321, or the Office of Media Communications at (254) 710-1961.