Rural economic development strategies increasingly focus on “homegrown” economic policies, including investing in entrepreneurial development. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of these strategies, in part because of data constraints. Using a mixed-methods approach, basic t-tests, fixed-effect probit regression, and propensity scoring techniques on data from the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey, this article tests the effectiveness of federal policies in inducing innovative activity in rural and urban establishments. The authors also explore indirect comparisons between rural and urban establishments. They find that Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards can increase the likelihood that an establishment will act innovatively and that this effect may be larger in rural settings than in urban settings. Results suggest that targeted public investment can induce rural innovation.

农村经济发展战略越来越注重“本土”经济政策，包括投资创业发展。然而，很少有研究评估这些策略的有效性，部分原因是数据限制。使用混合方法的方法，基本t对来自小企业创新研究计划和农村机构创新调查的数据进行测试、固定效应概率回归和倾向评分技术，本文测试了联邦政策在农村和城市机构中诱导创新活动的有效性。作者还探讨了农村和城市机构之间的间接比较。他们发现，小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 奖项可以增加企业创新行动的可能性，并且这种影响在农村环境中可能比在城市环境中更大。结果表明，有针对性的公共投资可以促进农村创新。