ABSTRACT
Vigorous economic growth continues in the retirement- and government-dependent counties of the rural South. The most significant feature is the importance of manufacturing-dependent counties in the rural areas of the nation and in the rural South. With the fundamental nature of the policy choices in mind, this chapter offers a brief overview of change in the rural South using county-level data. It argues that the underlying economic forces provide the backdrop within which future development strategies for the rural South must be considered. The chapter shows that rural areas of the South are undergoing fundamental structural change due to underlying national and international forces operating beyond the control of regional policymakers. Within the combination strategy proposed, the longer-run policy goal remains the enhancement of the human capital base in the rural South. The key policy issue for successful "home-grown" development is how to provide managerial and financial resources in rural areas of the South.
