Some rural regions in Western Germany have experienced a very positive economic development in terms of employment and incomes in the past decade. This development, however, is in sharp contrast to the the enduring economic lag of many rural regions in Eastern Germany. This paper seeks to find...

Until now empirical analyses have not succeeded in the determination of a general upon agreed bunch of the most important driving forces of structural change in agriculture beyond the level of the national economy. It will be argued that the sometimes contradictory results of different studies...