Date of Award
5-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Applied Economics and Statistics
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. R. David Lamie
Committee Member
Dr. Michael Vassalos
Committee Member
Dr. Jairus Rossi
Abstract
This thesis evaluates two different strategies local leaders use to support and grow their economies. The first evaluates how residents from across the American South view and understand their experience of local craft breweries. The second evaluates the effects of direct tourism spending and direct tourism tax receipts on important measures of resident well-being in the twenty-three county Western North Carolina region. The first chapter in this thesis evaluates the overall consumer perception of the growing craft brewing industry within the states of Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana and what factors affect this perception. It uses data from the Local Food System Vitality Survey distributed by the University of Kentucky to evaluate and draw important conclusions on residents’ perceptions of their local food systems. The idea of consumer perception forms the foundation of this chapter. The second chapter in this thesis evaluates the effects of direct tourism spending and direct tourism tax receipts on important measures of resident well-being in the twenty-three county Western North Carolina region. In this case, the measures of well-being are the number of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit recipients, the estimated number of people in poverty (i.e. below the federal poverty line), and the number of employed persons (i.e. receiving taxable income from employment) in the twenty-three county region that makes up Western North Carolina from 1999 to 2019.
Recommended Citation
Wade, Anne, "Perception and Play: Consumer Perceptions of Craft Breweries and the Impacts of Tourism Expenditures on Economic Health" (2022). All Theses. 3758.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3758