How Special Are Rural Areas? The Economic Implications of Location for Rural Development

Steve Wiggins and Sharon Proctor

Development Policy Review, 2001, vol. 19, issue 4, 427-436

Abstract: Despite on‐going change, rural areas remain characterised by relative abundance of natural capital, and by distance and the relatively high cost of movement. They are also home to most of the world’s poor. Compared with urban areas which enjoy proximity to customers and producers, rural areas may have comparative advantage only in primary activities based on immobile natural resources and closely related activities. There are differences, however, between ‘peri‐urban’, ‘middle countryside’ and ‘remote’ areas. In some areas, economic growth, urban expansion, and improved transport and communications create new urban‐oriented opportunities for rural services and labour. Remote areas will continue to present special difficulties, however; and, in general, the potential for non‐agricultural diversification is less than is sometimes argued.

Date: 2001
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