Book Chapter – Rural Policy in the United States

Weber, B., & Kilkenny, M. (2018). Rural Policy in the United States. In Handbook of International Food and Agricultural Policies (Vols. 1–3, pp. 43–70). World Scientific.
Rural policy in the United States has seen major shifts in goals over the past 250 years. In broad strokes, the national policy goals for rural places have evolved from (1) territorial expansion and settlement to (2) prosperity for those making their living in the agricultural sector, to (3) responding to economic decline and stagnation in rural places, to (4) a broader vision of regional prosperity that seeks to reduce economic distress and support economic development in rural place.