Connecting Rural Economies: Strategies for Coping with Western Rural Economic Devleopment Issues: A Strategic Assistance Guide

摘要

Rural areas in the West are experiencing difficulties adapting to new global realities that are dramatically restructuring their commodity-based resource economies. Because of these difficulties, two distinct economies have emerged in the West, one a slow growing or stagnant resource based rural economy and the other a dynamic, growing service and technology based urban economy. The strategic assistance guide provides state policymakers with new tools for diagnosing state rural economies and developing new strategic directions for better connecting rural areas to the state or regional economy. The guide is designed to help policymakers analyze the forces affecting rural areas and devise appropriate rural strategies depending on their state of readiness. The guide provides examples from other states that can help in developing new strategic directions.