Effective rural development planning depends on facts and analysis based, not on rural averages, but on the diverse social and economic structure of rural America. Programs tailored to particular types of rural economies may be more effective than generalized programs. Because of their unique characteristics, government policies and economic…

This paper reports progress on the development of improved measures of income and poverty by accounting for differences in living costs between regions, and on the tracing of relationships between natural resources and income; a reviewer's comments conclude the contents of this workshop collection. The overview describes how a measure of income…