Hastings, Steven E.

English

Research Papers in Economics

Invited Presentation
Toward a Development Policy
for Rural America: A Comment
Steven E. Hastings
Rural development policy in America, or the lack
of it, has generated much discussion in recent years.
Since the waning of the exuberance generated by
the favorable but short lived rural renaissance of
the late seventies, policy makers, researchers and
practitioners have come to realize the development
problems of rural America still exist.
Dr. Barkley provides an interesting historical
perspective on American rural development policy.
He provides an overview of past and current policy
and then speculates briefly on alternatives for the
future. The historical review serves to remind us
that the development of rural areas is hardly a new
issue; since colonial times, when policies regarding
where crops could be planted and sold were estab-
lished, it has been an important goal of a variety
of government programs. This reminder implies we
should be better at something we have been trying
to do for 350 years.
Several dominant themes are treated in the pa-
per. The first, as alluded to above, is that rural
development policy has been evolving in the United
States since the 17th century. Second, in the past,
the policy goals seemed more specific, e.g., set-
tling the West and providing electrical service, and
Tbe author is Associate Professor, Ddawiue Agricultnral Experiment
Station, Department of Food and Resource Economics, College of Ag-
ricultural Sciences, University of Delaware Newark, DE 19717-1303.
Published as Miscellaneous Paper Nn. 1230 of the Delaware Agricultural
Experiment Stntiorr.
more uniform across all rural areas. Dr. Barkley
continually emphasizes the diverse and heteroge-
neous nature of rural areas; some trying to accel-
erate development, some trying to control it; all
concerned with a myriad of problems. A final theme
is that with all the interest and rhetoric, we do not
have a well-defined, consistent rural development
policy at the national level.
Dr. Barkley provides an interesting characteri-
zation of rural development in the latter part of the
paper. He argues that rural development is a prob-
lem with n dimensions, where n is an unknown.
This is compounded by the fact that each n has m
qualitative attributes. I would argue that m is not
only also unknown, it frequently varies: rural de-
velopment is not one problem but a tangle of in-
terrelated problems that vary by region and over
time. To compound the difficulty, these problems
are perceived differently by different individuals
and interest groups. The question of which problem
to address first is never clear. Given this number
of unknowns and uncertainties, the feasibilityy of a
comprehensive national rural development policy
is doubtful.
In summary, Dr. Barkley reminds us of the di-
versity, magnitude and complexity of the issues of
rural development in America. They are issues not
likely to be easily addressed or readily resolved.
The challenge is to develop a set of rural devel-
opment policies that are flexible enough to address
these issues efficiently and effectively.

TOWARD A DEVELOPMENT POLICY FOR RURAL AMERICA: A COMMENT

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