Private Initiatives for Rural Development: Ideological Cop Out or Engine for Progress

Authors:
Cotterill, Ronald W.
Type: Unpublished
Journal title: Research Report No. 3
Year of publication: 1989
Source: AgEcon
Collected from: AGRIS
Subject:
cooperatives
rural development
agriculture
policies
Description:This report identifies a research and policy agenda that can contribute to rural development and antipoverty initiatives during the 1990s. It integrates a discussion of private initiatives for rural development into a broader discussion of the issues. Two theories of underdevelopment and poverty, one motivational and the other structural, serve as a basis for defining quite different research and policy agendas. To provide some closure of these divergent approaches, it is argued herein that economists must more rigorously examine the philosophical and political economic foundations of their theories. One reason this is needed is that recent contributions to the theory of public choice rehabilitate the classical economic argument for minimal state action. An effective and efficient rural development policy, moreover, must analyze the distribution system that delivers goods and services to rural communities. There is evidence that noncompetitive distribution channels distort prices in some rural communities and transfer wealth from them. In addition, many rural communities are at the end of distribution channels. Therefore, even in competitively structured channels, the relatively high costs of delivered goods and services for productive activity and consumption retard economic development and standards of living. Changes in the structure of rural households and the employment shift out of agriculture limit the ability of rural families to offset these higher costs via traditional household production activities. Cooperatives of many types-agricultural, rural electric and telephone, wholesale grocery, and consumer cooperatives-have been a major component in market-oriented public policies to promote effective distribution of goods and services to rural America. More recent institutional innovations that enhance private initiatives are public venture capital funds and nonprofit agencies. Research on rural distribution channels and the appropriate mix of private and public initiatives should be a major component of any new rural development policy.
 

Related Resources

Support for Farmers' Cooperatives-Country Report- Greece

Provider: 
Subject: 
products
agricultural products
animal products
plant products
policies
agricultural policies
socioeconomic development
rural development
agricultural development
economics
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agricultural practices
farming systems
cooperative farming

Support for Farmers' Cooperatives-Experiences of non-EU OECD Countries

Provider: 
Subject: 
policies
agricultural policies
socioeconomic development
economics
agricultural economics
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agriculture
agricultural practices
farming systems
cooperative farming

Economic sustainability of organic aloe vera farming in Greece under risk and uncertainty

Provider: 
Subject: 
Economical models
products
policies
rural development
agricultural economics
agriculture
agricultural practices
farms
farming systems
sustainable agriculture
alternative agriculture
organic agriculture
Collected from: 

THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN THAI AGRICULTURE

Provider: 
Subject: 
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agriculture
policies
Collected from: 

Guidelines for the integration of sustainable agriculture and rural development into agricultural policies

Provider: 
Subject: 
agricultural policies
rural development
policies
sustainable agriculture
agriculture
agriculture
rural development
agricultural policies
agriculture
Collected from: 

Long-term Financing in US and European Agricultural Co-operatives: Emerging Methods for Ameliorating Investment Constraints

Provider: 
Subject: 
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
policies
Collected from: 

AGRERI Library

Support for Farmers' Cooperatives-Country Report- Greece

Provider: 
Subject: 
products
agricultural products
animal products
plant products
policies
agricultural policies
socioeconomic development
rural development
agricultural development
economics
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agricultural practices
farming systems
cooperative farming

Support for Farmers' Cooperatives-Experiences of non-EU OECD Countries

Provider: 
Subject: 
policies
agricultural policies
socioeconomic development
economics
agricultural economics
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agriculture
agricultural practices
farming systems
cooperative farming

Economic sustainability of organic aloe vera farming in Greece under risk and uncertainty

Provider: 
Subject: 
Economical models
products
policies
rural development
agricultural economics
agriculture
agricultural practices
farms
farming systems
sustainable agriculture
alternative agriculture
organic agriculture
Collected from: 

External Library

THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN THAI AGRICULTURE

Provider: 
Subject: 
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
agriculture
policies
Collected from: 

Guidelines for the integration of sustainable agriculture and rural development into agricultural policies

Provider: 
Subject: 
agricultural policies
rural development
policies
sustainable agriculture
agriculture
agriculture
rural development
agricultural policies
agriculture
Collected from: 

Long-term Financing in US and European Agricultural Co-operatives: Emerging Methods for Ameliorating Investment Constraints

Provider: 
Subject: 
cooperatives
agribusiness and cooperatives
policies
Collected from: