This review discusses the challenges and opportunities of German rural areas. Significant differences between East and West persist and many of these have clear rural dimensions. Factors such as CAP reforms, ageing of the German population and migration trends will also have important rural...

The radical transformation that Spanish rural areas have experienced in the past few decades suggest, as it has occurred in many OECD countries, a new approach to rural policy. Spain has recently undertaken a major reform of its rural policies, including the merger of the Ministry of Agriculture...

The challenges faced by Mexico’s rural areas are significant. Mexico's countryside is home to a large population (more than the overall population of many OECD countries) that is highly dispersed and largely living in poverty. The potential of these areas is however significant, as their vast...

Finland is one of the most rural countries within the OECD, and it is also one of the early adopters of a multi-sectoral approach to rural policy. The Finnish model of rural policy has been reasonably successful in achieving coherence among sectoral policies oriented to rural areas (the...

"Twenty years ago, seemingly everything for sale at American retailers had a "Made In China" sticker on it. Now, things have changed. Every year, forty thousand Chinese factories are shuttering their doors as businesses seek cheaper labor elsewhere. Clothes manufacturing is moving to Bangladesh...