The Economy and Nevada, Part One

A short while back a friend of mine lamented the curtailing of a specific program of which she is an avid supporter. While I will refrain from mentioning it specifically, it will suffice to say that it is a fantastic program, however due to the economic constraints under which the great State of Nevada is currently forced to operate they were unable to receive a particular state-funded grant, resulting in the shrinking of the size of the program.

I greatly admire her convictions in the matter, but as she lamented she began stating (blurting, more like) her solutions to these economic constraints. Simply put, it was to punish the purveyors of prosperity.

I.E. levy taxes against the casinos.

In the Beginning...

Nevada has always had a rather "different" culture, and as a state with a fairly small population there was always something steady driving the state's economy. In the earliest years this was at the hands of the vast mineral wealth. Nevada being a state who's population was below 90k prior to the Great Depression, this mineral wealth, in spite of the ever waxing and waning trends in mineralogical development, provided an adequate sustenance for the State.

Once the depression hit, however, Nevada searched for something to sustain the economy. The mines no longer produced the fantastic sums they had in the previous 70 years, and, in a short time, Washington, D.C.'s would expand efforts to create a "more stable currency," further minimizing the economic impact that mining had upon state tax revenue. Having dabbled in permitting and regulating activities shunned by most other states before (in the early 20th century, boxing was highly taboo in most states, and when promoters for the famous bout between Joe Gans and Oscar Nelson, Nevada was more than eager to host the event; the fight was held September 3, 1906, in Goldfield, Nevada), the State once more turned its attention to more unorthodox solutions, chief among them being gaming (legalized in 1931), as well as reducing the minimum period of residency in the state to six weeks in order to obtain a divorce (1931), among others. The industries associated with tourism began to flourish and helped to provide a more suitable tax base for the relatively small population extant at the time, and, as it continued to grow, continued as the primary sources of income for the State.

Thursday I will continue venture into Nevada and her economy, including the growth of population as well as contemporary economic contributions by industry.