County governments are the fastest growing level of local government in the United States. Based on a recent survey of counties in 45 states, this paper analyzes the size of county governments relative to other local governments, the scope of county government services, and fiscal stress faced...

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...

Coal mining has a long legacy of providing needed jobs in isolated communities but it is also associated with places that suffer from high poverty and weaker long-term economic growth. Yet, the industry has greatly changed in recent decades. Regulations, first on air, have altered the geography...

The Appalachian mountain region has long been characterized by deep poverty which led to the formation of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) in 1965. The ARC region covers West Virginia and parts of 12 other states, running from New York to Mississippi (Ziliak 2012). The ARC region had an...

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...

Despite the interest that social scientists have displayed in the rising rate of incarceration, little attention has been devoted to understanding its consequences for local areas. This is an important omission because prison construction has become a component of state and local economic...