North Dakota
North Dakota exhibits boom-bust dynamics: Bakken shale transformed the state from 2006-2014 before oil price collapse demonstrated extraction economy volatility.
North Dakota experienced one of America's most dramatic economic transformations when hydraulic fracturing unlocked the Bakken shale formation. From 2006 to 2014, the state boomed: population surged, unemployment fell below 3%, and Williston became a magnet for workers seeking six-figure wages in the oil fields. The boom demonstrated how resource extraction can rapidly transform even the most sparsely populated regions.
When oil prices crashed in 2014-2015, the bust proved equally dramatic. Man camps emptied, housing prices collapsed, and the state's economy returned to agricultural dependence. Today, oil production continues at lower levels while farmers raise wheat, corn, and soybeans across the prairie. The boom left infrastructure—housing, roads, processing facilities—that exceeds current needs.
North Dakota's small population (775,000) means any economic shock registers immediately. Fargo has grown as a regional center with technology employment, but the state lacks the diversification that absorbs commodity price swings. The Bakken experience taught that resource booms don't create lasting prosperity without intentional reinvestment of extraction revenues into economic diversification—a lesson sovereign wealth funds understand but democratic politics often fails to implement.