Nature, Types and Scale of Rural Development.

The issue of rural development has been surrounded by a number of debates regarding its nature, types, and scale. Included among the sources of controversy relating to rural development are the following areas: (1) the relation between rural development and rural industrialization, (2) the distribution of benefits and costs associated with development strategies, (3) the distribution of costs and benefits among sectors of the population, (4) the urban causes and consequences of rural development, (5) the possibility of developing a common national strategy for rural development, and (6) the relation between incentives to location of a firm in a community and subsequent economic development. Plans for any program for rural development must take into account questions of the proper scale of rural development, the special nature and extent of rural poverty, the effects of poverty on rural communities, existing experiences with rural development, the relationship between national economic revitalization and rural development, and the role of vocational education in rural economic growth. (Related reports on rural development in America are available separately through ERIC--see note.) (MN)