ABSTRACT
The conclusion summarizes the main findings of the book. In addition, it discusses three issues. First, the land question should be viewed in a historical perspective. The importance of industrious revolution has increased rather than diminished due to growing population pressure worldwide. The rise of neoliberalism in recent decades has led to the informalization and precarization of urban employment. In this situation, it is imperative to resort to vigorous rural development to provide livelihoods for a large population and to mitigate precarity. Second, rural land is not only used for agriculture, but also for a range of nonfarm activities including rural industry and agro-tourism. The multifuctionality of land and other factors, such as state interventions, market conditions and local resource endowments, have led to the heterogeneous nature of smallholder-based rural development across regions and countries, which can be understood as varieties of industrious revolution. Finally, in recent years, all East Asian cases (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China) surveyed in the book have formulated strategies or programs of rural revitalization This may revive a long tradition of rural-based, balanced development in the region and become the new East Asian development path.
