Rural Economic Development: A Review of the Literature from Industrialized Economies

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, accelerating change has been one of the defining attributes of rural landscapes around the world. In response, there has been an increasing volume of rural economic development research and public/policy interest in that research. The purpose of this review article is not to provide a ‘state of the literature’ summary, but rather to highlight thematic directions, opportunities, and trends in the rural economic development literature over the past decade in industrialized economies. We review many of the longstanding research themes in rural economic development research: social and economic restructuring, barriers and challenges to economic development, community economic development, community capacity, governance, and policies and programs. We also explore a range of research issues that have (re-) emerged over the past decade focusing on new approaches to understanding rural change and the deployment of development strategies in the context of the new rural economy.