This paper proposes a new concept of rural development in an uncertain world. The nature of risk and uncertainty is discussed and risk management is defined as a positive model of economic and social behaviour. Some relevant paradigms for rural development are briefly reviewed and evaluated...

Rural development was traditionally associated with agriculture. The policy shift towards integrated rural development reflects the complex linkages and interactions within the system of overall rural development. Putting too much emphasis on agriculture and ignoring its linkages to the rest of...

In line with recent suggestions about the potential positive effects of subsistence agriculture in fragile economies, this paper discusses and explains the effects of subsistence agriculture with emphasis on transition countries. Some micro-economic models of subsistence agriculture are reviewed...

In most countries of Central and Eastern Europe the process of transition to market economy resulted in an increasingly subsistence type of agriculture. The extent of subsistence farming varies from one country to another, but the phenomenon is universally present. The very existence, yet...

The paper considers the problem of subsistence and semi-subsistence farming in Central and Easter Europe. The latter is analysed in terms of the institutional characteristics of the transition process. The concepts of institutions and institutional change are clarified and subsistence...

Economic research by and large is dominated by a ‘rationality’ paradigm. Economic decision making within this paradigm is viewed as a maximising procedure. In general the latter represents the decision-making as a choice amongst a well defined set of alternatives. In this paper we question...

The selection of ‘representative’ farms in farm level modelling where results are aggregated to the sector level is critically important if the effects of aggregation bias are to be reduced. The process of selecting representative farms normally involves the use of cluster analysis where the...

Over the last few years, many studies have shown that social networks are important to the economic progress and the development of societies. In order to explain the determinants of social network formation, it is important to understand the motivations characterising the decisions of single...