ABSTRACT
Rural economic development remains an elusive field to all but a handful of experts and specialists. Novices and generalists often harbor misperceptions about rural places and their redevelopment. A few misconceptions are as follows: 1) rural places are economically, socially, or politically homogeneous, or nearly so, so that they share common circumstances, problems, and prospects; 2) rural places have a few comparative advantages—such as inexpensive labor and extensive undeveloped land resources—but have major disadvantages or deficits—such as remoteness from markets, sparse populations, uneducated workforces, and shortages of capital—that narrow economic development options; 3) widespread consensus about how to help rural places exists, but carefully executed, targeted policies are needed; and 4) rural economic development policy and practice placed in ways that benefit people most.
