Economic Diversity and Regional Socioeconomic Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Western Australian Grain Belt

One of the truisms ingrained in much regional development policy and practice is the claimed importance of economic diversity in contributing to socio-economic stability and well-being. There is, however, very little recent research examining this contention in the context of rural Australia. This paper examines the extent to which economic diversity affects the socio-economic performance of local areas in the Western Australian grain belt. The results indicate that employment diversity across industry sectors is clearly associated with population growth, labour force expansion, labour force participation, and rising median incomes. However, the paper also argues that economic diversity is not necessarily the cause of these changes, but simply one, albeit important, component of the dynamics of regional change.