Examining the main economic trends affecting rural areas today and the types of local programmes that are being implemented in response. The contributors to this text consider the lessening of federal government involvement and its long-term effects on states and localities.

Preface Growth and Change in Rural America: The Experience of the 1980s and Prospects for the 1990s by Sara Mills Mazie and Molly Sizer Killian Transitions in Rural Areas of the Midwest and Nation by Andrew J. Sofranko Commercial Agriculture in Rural Economic Development by David A. Lins Patterns of Employment Growth in Midwestern Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties by Bruce D. Phillips and James P. Miller Economic Change and the Local Public Sector by Norman Walzer and Steve Deller Education and Rural Development: Lessons for the Rural Midwest by John B. Crihfield Local Economic Development: Perceptions and Actions of Small City Officials in Illinois by Norman Walzer and John Gruidl Developing Leadership to Address Rural Problems by Ronald J. Hustedde State and Federal Policy Initiatives in Rural Development by Tom Unruh Local Economic Development Projects: Key Factors by Jan and Cornelia Flora Rural America in the 1990s: A Tale of Two Cities by Mark Drabenstott Bibliography Index