The relationship between a state's metro and nonmetro economic performance is a key consideration in determining whether a special rural development policy is appropriate for that state. This report compares the economic performance of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in 49 states, 1979-86. On average, metropolitan areas enjoyed higher…

A survey of approximately 300 U.S. rural development officials indicates that rural-based officials often had a greater appreciation of rural environmental quality of life features than did their urban-based counterparts. Suggests decentralizing rural development policy formation to the communities affected. (SV)

The United States government has no true national rural policy toward education and rural community development. The need exists for the federal government to assume a different role in these areas from what it has traditionally played. In the past the federal education enterprise has failed to relate the design, purpose, or implementation of its…

Income has become somewhat more concentrated among upper-income families since 1967 and growth of total income has slowed since 1973. Both trends suggest a widening income gap between metro and nonmetro areas because nonmetro areas have a higher proportion of low-income families and slower income growth. (JHZ)

Farm policy alone is no longer a sufficient development policy for today's rural America. Rural economies have changed over the last 30-40 years from reliance on farming to greater reliance on manufacturing and service industries. Rural economic development policies need to reflect today's changed rural economy. (Author)

If a new and effective rural policy is to be crafted, policymakers must realize that rural America has changed a great deal in recent years. To be sustainable, rural policy must be flexible enough to accommodate continuing changes in global structure; be sufficiently targeted to address the unique concerns found in diverse rural situations;…

Rural economic development presents a paradox of growth in population and jobs without corresponding improvement in local economic well-being. Four forces may impede nonmetropolitan development efforts. Growth of multiestablishment corporations makes traditional regional economic development models unrealistic. Rural industrialization is socially,…

Expanding work opportunities, changing family structure, double digit inflation, and relaxed attitudes toward the appropriateness of women's work outside the home have contributed to increased labor force participation of women in recent years. Recent studies indicate that despite traditional attitudes ascribed to rural areas, trends in increasing…

Elements essential to an adequate framework for rural development in the U.S. are a national growth and development policy which includes a rural development strategy and definition of common problems and programmatic actions required to deal with them. Many past federal rural development programs (lacking a federal rural policy focus) have failed…

As part of a series prepared to acquaint small community officials with information on the latest community related research findings at the University of California at Davis, this monograph explicates the way in which tax structure, rural development assumptions, and even rural development policies and subsidies contribute to the inequities found…

Included in this report on the Southern Rural Health Conference (held in Nashville, Tennessee in 1976) are: (1) an introduction (details the conference goals); (2) a program agenda; (3) "Summation: Southern Rural Health Conference" (a speech); (4) "Health Care and Rural Development" (a speech); (5) "Innovative Approaches…

The report catalogs strengths, defines problems, and establishes goals for the next two decades for rural New York in the area of transportation. Describing where rural New York is today, section one lists 12 trends, 8 strengths, and 16 weaknesses affecting transporation. Trends include increased rural population inflow and demands on local…

Suggests that the rural development policy for Australia proposed by Jonathan and Katrina Sher in a previous issue of this journal fails to differentiate between "rural" and "regional," resulting in policies aimed at regional areas and the marginalization of rural communities. Offers a distinction between rural, urban, and…

This report discusses trends affecting the future of rural development in Kentucky and describes strategies for leveraging more positive outcomes for rural communities. In addition to the enduring legacies of rural poverty, inadequate infrastructure, low educational attainment, and joblessness, contemporary rural Kentucky is also characterized by…

This report contains five papers with discussions identifying policy and research issues in rural labor markets, assessing the adequacy of existing data and theories for researching these issues, and assigning priorities to research questions. The papers focus on rural economic goals, market linkages with metropolitan, national, and international…