Research Reports

The significance of Marcellus Shale gas development to local, regional, state, and national economies has been of public policy importance since the mid-2000s. This research analyzed peer-reviewed studies of the economic impacts from Marcellus Shale's development. The implications of this review were two-fold. First, economic impacts will likely be short-run due to the temporal dynamics of the industry. Second, there is a fairly strong consensus in the academic literature that impacts on employment and compensation are modest, indicating that employment should be considered neither a long-term economic benefit of development nor the most significant local economic benefit of development. 

In 2012, this research team began the first wave of longitudinal research to examine the social and economic impacts of Marcellus Shale activity in four case study counties. Wave 1 found that the impacts are likely uneven across places, people, and time. Documenting these differences became the focus for Wave 2. Descriptive analyses conducted in Wave 1 identified potential effects of development but lacked the ability to test those relationships statistically. Wave 2 sought to re-examine the impacts on crime, housing, the economy, agriculture, health and health care access, and traffic incidents in relation to Marcellus Shale development. This report describes the efforts of the research team to address these issues. Finally, policy approaches are needed that effectively recognize disparities in experiences. Certain segments of the population are more vulnerable to rapid economic and industrial change, and policies need to consider mechanisms to compensate those groups negatively affected.