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RURAL

DEVELOPMENT

PERSPECTIVES

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United States Department of Agriculture

Volume 9, Issue 1

Economie Research Service

October 1^

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Editorial Board

Linda M. Ghelfi, Executive Editor

Thomas McDonald, Managing Editor

Tom Rowley, Special Issue Editor

Anicca Jansen, Special Issue Editor

Robert Gibbs, Book Review Editor

John Cromartie

Karen Hamrick

Kenneth Hanson

James McGlone

Stephen Landale, Assistant to the Editor

Bob Gresh, Graphics Advisor

Judy Garza, Contributing Editor

Dale Simms, Contributing Editor

Rural Development Perspectives (ISSN 0271-

2171) is published three times per year

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Rural Development Perspectives welcomes

letters to the editor as well as ideas for

articles. Address editorial correspondence and inquiries to the Executive Editor, Rural Development Perspectives, ERSARED Room 324, 1301 New York Ave.,

NW, Washington, DC 20005-4788; or call

202-219-0520.

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Editor's Notebook

Rural Development Perspectives usually presents the results of research on

various aspects of rural life that are important to consider in formulating

rural policies and programs. In this issue, however, authors express their

opinions on the guiding principles of rural development policies. We

undertook this departure from the norm because rural and national

economic conditions are changing, government resources at all levels are

tight, and, therefore, ideas of what rural development should be and how

to achieve it are changing. The need to bring programs in line with

current rural conditions while streamlining and rationalizing government

spending suggests policies that give coordinated, effective direction to

rural development programs. This is clearly part of "reinventing government" for rural America.

Tom Rowley and Anicca Jansen, members of the RDP Editorial Board, are

the joint editors of this issue. The idea for a policy issue grew out of

Tom's work with the National Commission on Agriculture and Rural

Development Policy and the National Initiative on Rural America.

Anicca's research in government finance and economic development and

her background in regional planning made her an intuitive choice for joint

editor. Beginning in the summer of 1992, they solicited the articles,

worked with the authors and our technical editors, and shepherded the

package through the clearance process. I heartily thank them for their

efforts to produce this interesting and thought-provoking issue.

Now that this issue is going to press, and a new national administration

has taken over in Washington, one obvious omission in the articles needs

to be noted. Rural development has always been concerned with both

economic efficiency and distributional equity. We have ample evidence in

the post WWII period to know that progress in dealing with poverty is

made nearly impossible when there is little real economic growth to be

shared. But throughout that period it appeared that with adequate real

growth nationally, we would see a narrowing of the income and poverty

gaps among regions, and between urban and rural people. The experience of the 1980's, which saw a widening of income gaps among the

States and an increase in rural poverty, makes that comfortable assumption less credible. Therefore, rural policymakers are challenged not only

to assist in creating a competitive and steadily growing rural economy,

but also one that provides market-based employment and entrepreneurial

opportunities for those who have been left behind.

Tom and Anicca summarize the rural development policy debate in their

lead article. Effland traces Federal rural development policy and programs over the last two decades, and Galston concentrates on recent rural

economic trends and their policy implications. Grillo Pasquarelli's impressions of U.S. rural development are based on his 2y2-month trip

across the country. His perceptions, those of a foreigner involved in rural

development efforts in the European Community, provide very interesting

insights. The articles by Reid and Rockefeller define rural development

and outline recent efforts to coordinate Federal policies and achieve

strong Federal-State-local collaboration. Sears and others approach rural

development policy from the State level, and Cigler presents a perspective

on the difficulties small rural governments may face in implementing

rural development programs.

Note that the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers or the U.S. Department of

Agriculture. We hope the ideas presented here will generate debate at all

levels of government and within the rural community at large. We welcome responses to these ideas and intend to publish comment and rebuttal in a future issue.

Linda M. Ghelfi
Feature Articles

2 Rural Development Policy: Responding to Change

by Anicca C. Jansen and Thomas D. Rowley

8 Federal Rural Development Policy Since 1972

by Anne B. W. Effland

15 Rural America in the 1990's: Trends and Choices

by William A. Calston

19 A Eiu-opean Perspective: 12 Impressions of Rural

America

by Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli

24 Building National Strategies for Rural Economic

Development

by J. Norman Reid

28 Managing Rural Policy in a Federal System of

Government

by Winthrop Rockefeller

31 State Leadership in Rural Development:

The Rationale

by David W. Sears, John M. Redman, Richard L. Gardner, and Stephen J.

Adams

35 Meeting the Growing Challenges of Rural Local

Governments

by Beverly A. Cigler

Book Reviews

40 Far From Home: Life and Loss in Two American Towns

The Arguments of Agriculture: A Casebook in Contemporary

Agricultural Controversy

Rural Economic Development in the Í980's: Prospects for the Future

The People Left Behind

Profit Cycles, Oligopoly, and Regional Development

Broken Heartland: The Rise of America's Rural Ghetto

Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions

The Globalisation of High Technology Production: Society, Space and

Semiconductors in the Restructuring of the Modem World

The Diverse Social and Economic Structure of Nonmetropolitan America

Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production

Work in the Fast Lane: Flexibilities, Divisions of Labor and Inequality in

High-Tech Industries

Community Economics: Economic Structure and Change in Smaller

Communities

Regional Policy in a Changing World

Demands on Rural Lands: Planning for Resource Use

Geography and Trade

Social Policy and the Rural Setting

Short Subjects

44 The State Policy Academy on Rural Economic and Community Develojv

ment, National Commission on Agriculture and Rural Development

Policy, The Rural Development Act of 1990, The Rural Policy Research

Institute, Regional Rural Development Centers, National Initiative on

Rural America

Rural Development Perspectives, vol. 9, no. 1