This fascinating book examines rural retirement migration from the older in-migrants’ perspective and from the vantage point of the destination communities to which they move. This integrated approach permits the authors to view older in-migrants as embedded in environments that facilitate and/or constrain their opportunities for productive living during older age. It also permits the examination of positive and negative effects of older in-migration for destination communities.

This book investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. The authors define wealth as all assets net of liabilities that can contribute to well-being, and they provide examples of many forms of capital – physical, financial, human, natural, social, and others. They propose a conceptual framework for rural wealth creation that considers how multiple forms of wealth provide opportunities for rural development, and how development strategies affect the dynamics of wealth. They also provide a new accounting framework for measuring wealth stocks and flows. These conceptual frameworks are employed in case study chapters on measuring rural wealth and on rural wealth creation strategies. Rural Wealth Creation makes numerous contributions to research on sustainable rural development. Important distinctions are drawn to help guide wealth measurement, such as the difference between the wealth located within a region and the wealth owned by residents of a region, and privately owned versus publicly owned wealth. Case study chapters illustrate these distinctions and demonstrate how different forms of wealth can be measured. Several key hypotheses are proposed about the process of rural wealth creation, and these are investigated by case study chapters assessing common rural development strategies, such as promoting rural energy industries and amenity-based development. Based on these case studies, a typology of rural wealth creation strategies is proposed and an approach to mapping the potential of such strategies in different contexts is demonstrated. This book will be relevant to students, researchers, and policy makers looking at rural community development, sustainable economic development, and wealth measurement.

This book contains the latest research on social and economic trends occurring in rural America. It provides a unique focus on rural demography and the interaction between population dynamics and local social and economic change. It is also the first volume on rural population that exploits data from Census 2000 The book highlights major themes transforming contemporary rural areas and each is examined with an expanded overview and case study.

This book examines the transformations of rural society and economy in the UK and US during the last half-century, and explores the significance of these trends and changes for community sustainability, quality of life and the environment. While both the UK and US are highly urbanised, rural people and communities continue to contribute to national identity, economic development and social solidarity, as well as to environmental quality. Contributors explore the degree to which rural people exhibit agency and autonomy, rather than being merely passive in the face of exogenous forces of change in a globalised world. They also illuminate very different policy approaches to rural policy in two advanced capitalist societies often thought to be similar, and show how fundamental differences in rural policy approaches of the US and the UK are based on different social ideologies and values that shape policies relating to rural areas. This book will help to stimulate transatlantic dialogue on rural scholarship and rural policy analysis, while also contributing to theory and policy development. It will be of interest to researchers, students and everyone involved in the policy and practice of rural development.

This volume focuses on alternatives for non-metropolitan economic development in the new international economic climate. It provides critical reviews of popular employment-generation alternatives for rural areas.