During the past few decades, local governments have extended the scope of their activities in response to changing economic and political conditions. By and large, research on local governments neglects counties, now the fastest growing general-purpose governments. This article examines...

Research on economic restructuring generally emphasizes change, rather than continuity, in the socioeconomic landscape. That expectation is addressed here by comparing 1970 and 1990 in terms of the gender division of labor for U.S. counties. These years represent poles of the...

During the 1980s, the rural economy experienced extensive restructuring, evidenced in the farm crisis and changes in other traditional rural industries. This study focuses on a segment of the rural population particularly affected by these changes: farm women and men in the Midwest. We examine...

Attention to diversity in women's attitudes toward farming and in women's patterns of farm work activity expands our understanding of the linkage between agrarian structure, regional history, and the behavior and values of individual farm women. We combine several disciplinary and methodological...

Although most countries in the world are rapidly urbanizing, the majority of the global population – particularly the poor – continue to live in rural areas. This Handbook rejects the popular notion that urbanization should be universally encouraged and presents clear evidence of...

Ownership is central to how the economic system operates. Yet the topic is widely neglected. This is particularly surprising given the 2007–2008 credit crunch, which created in 2009 the first global recession since the 1930s. Ownership played a crucial role, from the drive for ‘shareholder...