There was an interesting article in the Des Moines Register by Matthew Patane, that once again talks about the shrinking of Iowa cities and the overall decline of population. (June 20, 2015)
As a result there is a labor shortage in the state which has been documented by ISU economists Liesel Eathington and Dave Swanson. This impairs economic growth and business expansion.
As a political scientist I am concerned that Iowa has been losing Congressional seats every 10 years. We DON'T want to end up like South Dakota or Vermont with just one House seat. We are headed in that direction. In 1913 Iowa had 11 house members! It started going down since then and we now have just 4.
Can someone please do a study that specifically nails down why Iowa's population is shrinking besides the aging of the population (older people do not have kids)
Is it the lack of a big city? Poor environmental conditions? A conservative social culture? Lack of an aggressive "Live and Love in Iowa" or something like that?
Otherwise this trend will continue and Iowa's influence in Congress will decline.
Now for the punch line. That shrinking population has already come up several times in conversations I've had with news media people."Why should a state with less than 1% of the US population which is shrinking in numbers be the first to express it's choice for president?" one very prominent national personality asked me?
The governor, the legislature, community leaders, business and agricultural executives, venture capitalists, academics, artists, all need to stop and reflect on this problem. Then we need to reverse the trand.
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