Problem farm debts may translate into slow growth for rural communities, with local banks unable to offer credit even to credit worthy borrowers. Communities served by branches of large banking organizations are probably better off than communities served only by small independent banks. (Author)

Examines the advantages and disadvantages of diversification as a strategy for economic development. In particular, rural economies that specialize in government and education tend to perform well. Includes map of U.S. labor market areas (LMAs), graphs and table comparing rural and urban LMAs' income and employment rates. (TES)

This discussion of the impact of information services on the agricultural development of the developing countries of Africa. Covers the importance of information and problems of literacy; sources of agricultural information (extension services, radio, films, publications, friends); and the role of library services. Footnotes are included. (EJS)

In April 2000, over 250 rural leaders from around the nation gathered in Kansas City, Missouri, to discuss rural America's future, its challenges, and policies to meet those challenges. Conference participants agreed that the current pattern of uneven rural growth is likely to persist and that agriculture will remain a key sector in the rural…

A large-scale pre-television benchmark survey was undertaken in five Indonesian provinces in 1976, prior to the launching of Indonesia's telecommunications satellite, to provide data for comparison with the results of a survey of the same villages to be carried out in 1982, 5 years after the introduction of television, to assess its long-term…

If the path to a better rural life is to be a change preferred by the rural people involved, recent world experience would suggest that it must be a change born from within the given rural social system, be controlled by its beneficiaries, and be integrated into the larger system of which it is a part. Such a perspective and such a process might…

Prepared by the Task Force on Rural Development Research (appointed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture), this analytical directory gives primary emphasis to 133 Rural Development 1 (RD1) research projects which were "active" projects between January 1 and June 30, 1973 in 13 Northeastern state agricultural experiment stations and the…

The 2-volume Appalachian bibliography is alphabetically arranged by authors' last names under alphabetically listed subject headings. Volume I contains A-L subject headings, while Volume II contains L-W subject headings. The majority of the 8,220 documents cited are annotated and were published between 1891 and 1970. The bibliography contains such…

Federal programs of assistance to community development are presented in this guide for community leaders. Individual programs are described in summary form and arranged alphabetically under chapter headings. Programs are listed in the following areas: (1) business stimulation, jobs creation, and income expansion; (2) buildings, installations, and…

The papers presented in this collection are said to represent the major thrusts of research and other scholarly activities of rural sociologists in the South in 1972. Arranged in the order of their presentation at the Rural Sociology Section of the Southern Agricultural Workers meetings, these papers discuss such topics as youth, social change in…

The paper documents and analyzes the nature of community self-help efforts in rural areas of Anambra State, Nigeria. It notes that community perceptions of development are based on a social and economic yardstick and differ from the prevailing public policy on agricultural development. (Author/SB)

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)

Discusses three simulation games focusing on social and economic interaction that can be used to enhance understanding and sensitivity in development studies training: the Green Revolution Game (rural development in India), Exaction (a whole national society game commissioned by the World Bank), and Africulture (a new game about labor-scarce…

This paper analyses whether the Australian Landcare movement complies with notions of "post-productivist rural governance." The paper argues that Landcare has been a vast improvement on previous approaches to the management of the countryside in Australia, and that it has managed to mobilise a large cross-section of stakeholders.…