Current interpretations of central Appalachia's chronic poverty focus on the region's economic dependence on the bituminous coal industry, controlled by absentee investors and serving an external market. Such theories overlook the ways in which the agricultural sector shaped subsequent industrial development. By analyzing the farm economy of 16…

Blacks who settled in the Western United States influenced the region's development in a number of ways, including agriculture, the cattle industry, mining, and business. (MC)

Traces the histories of rural education and rural technology in four countries. Suggests that the economic function of education is the transmission of technologically relevant skills, and that technologically appropriate curricula are a necessary part of economic development policy. 30 references. (SV)

Agricultural and rural concerns affected the writing of the Constitution in at least three ways: (1) in the issues that led to the calling of the Constitutional Convention; (2) in the debates during the convention itself; and (3) in the ideology of government held by many of the framers. (JHZ)