Transforming Rural Development

Small business and entrepreneurship advocates have long talked about new ways of promoting rural development. Reliance on agricultural subsidies and other traditional strategies will no longer suffice; new models and approaches are required. A new report by the Progressive Policy Institute (an affiliate of the Democratic Leadership Council) adds further fuel to this fire. The report, Reversing Rural America’s Economic Decline: The Case for a National Balanced Growth Strategy, argues that rural America is being left behind as other regions of the country prosper.

Rural regions can rebound if rural development policies are brought into the information age. Thus, agricultural subsidies should be reduced and funds for rural development should increase. Savings from reduced subsidies should be invested into a new Rural Prosperity Corporation that would co-invest with the states to boost the competitiveness of rural economies. In addition, where possible, government activities should be moved to rural areas from high cost metropolitan regions.

The February 2004 Progressive Policy Institute report, Reversing Rural America’s Economic Decline: The Case for a National Balanced Growth Strategy, by Robert D. Atkinson, is available at http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=107&subsecid=123&contentid=252381

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