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The paper considers the sources of structural change in peripheral rural areas, arguing that a greater understanding of sources of change would aid rural development policy makers. Adopting a demand-side perspective, changes in real output are decomposed to distinguish between those brought about by changes in technology, changes in local sourcing patterns and changes in final demand. Empirical analysis focuses on the economy of the Western Isles in Scotland. Results highlight the importance of export demand but also a wide variability between sectors in the direction and magnitude of the different drivers of change. A number of policy implications are drawn in the light of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eighty-seven per cent of a cohort of 299 low-birthweight (LBW) infants (less than or equal to 2000 g) were examined at age 6 years 8 months, together with 111 control children. All the controls and 248 of the LBW children were individually assessed in school. Information about another 13 LBW children was obtained by questionnaire. Problems in primary school were related to social grade, evidence of early intra-uterine insult, sex, postnatal complications and neurological and developmental status in the first year of life. Multiple birth, gestation and intra-uterine growth were not clearly related to problems in school. The incidence of major handicap, as compared with LBW infants born between 1953 and 1955, showed little change when earlier-born infants who had been subjected to severe restriction of fluid and calorie intake were excluded. Ninety-two per cent of LBW children traced were attending normal schools. Those who showed no evidence of early intra-uterine insult and who were neurologically normal in the first year of life were largely indistinguishable from control children reared in similar homes.