Rural development processes can be interpreted as the result of an increasingly complex interplay of different driving forces. The 'rural web' concept, developed recently as a theoretical framework, emerges as the intersection of six inter-related dimensions (endogenity, novelty production,...

The modern scientific discourse on economic development increasingly emphasises the role of cultural factors. Social sciences reach for the cultural theories when they cannot explain the lack of economic growth despite favourable conditions, especially the financial and institutional ones. In...

The main objective of the research is to evaluate the significance of gmina local government in the field of agriculture and non-agricultural activity development in rural areas. To achieve this, questionnaires were designed and rural areas inhabitants were interviewed. The interviewees were...

LEADER started as a Community Initiative in the European Union in 1991 and has had positive results in rural development in the EU-15, especially on social capital. It is important to emphasise that rural development plans must be prepared at the local level, and LEADER funds are available only...

Although the contribution of agricultural production to national income decreased from 58% in 1947 to 3.3% in 2001, Polish agriculture still provides employment to roughly 20% of the total of persons employed in the country. Average size of individual farms increased from 7.2 hectares in 1990 to...

The early years of the post-socialist era saw the beginnings of massive regional and social differentiation in Hungary, which led to the emergence of three regional types. In the economic race there are those regions that develop vigorously, others that can be labelled as transition regions and...

This paper analyses first and foremost the micro-regional (NUTS-IV) level changes of the past 15 years in Hungary, adopting the method of multivariate factor and cluster analysis as its fundamental approach. Accepting the popular view that Hungary is a "highly rural" country, this study first...

The paper presents the general outline and the most important results from an econometric model MODROL, developed by the authors, for analyzing and forecasting the impact from the instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community on the Polish agricultural sector. The basic...

In the current EU programming period, rural areas in the North Great Plain region of Hungary will benefit from investment through the New Hungary Rural Development Programme (NHRDP) and the North Great Plain Regional Operational Programme (NGPOP). Using keywords from Section 3.1 of Annex II to...

This article is devoted to changes in the functional structure of Poland’s rural areas in the years 1988-1999, that is – in the period of transition from the socialist to market economy and the country’s preparations for the EU accession. As the result of functional...