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Contrary to conventional wisdom that equates rural economies with agriculture, rural residents in developing countries often rely heavily on activities other than farming for their income. Indeed, nonfarm work accounts for between one-third and one-half of rural incomes in the developing world. In recent years, accelerating globalization, increasing competition from large businesses, expanding urban markets for rural goods and services, and greater availability of information and communication technology have combined to expose rural nonfarm businesses to new opportunities as well as new risks. By examining these rapid changes in the rural nonfarm economy, international experts explore how the rural nonfarm economy can contribute to overall economic growth in developing countries and how the poor can participate in this rapidly evolving segment of the economy. The authors review an array of recent studies of the rural nonfarm economy in order to summarize existing empirical evidence, explore policy implications, and identify future research priorities. They examine the varied scale, structure, and composition of the rural nonfarm economy, as well as its relationship with agricultural and urban enterprises. And they address key questions about the role of public intervention in the rural nonfarm economy and how the rural poor can participate in and navigate the rapid transition underway in rural areas. The contributors offer new insights to specialists in rural development and to others interested in overall economic development. This book is the product of a joint study by the International Food Policy Research Institute and The World Bank.

Contributors include Raisuddin Ahmed, Christopher B. Barrett, Julio Berdegué, Paul A. Dorosh, Steven Haggblade, Peter B. R. Hazell, Eric Hyman, Peter Lanjouw, Carl Liedholm, Donald C. Mead, Richard L. Meyer, Anit Mukherjee, Keijiro Otsuka, Thomas Reardon, Mitch Renkow, Kostas Stamoulis, and Xiaobo Zhang.

Steven Haggblade is a professor of international development at Michigan State University. Peter B. R. Hazell is a visiting professor at Imperial College, London, prior to which he was director of the Development Strategy and Governance Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Thomas Reardon is a professor of agricultural economics at Michigan State University.

"The study of the rural nonfarm economy has been as intractable as its many impacts have been important. With this carefully crafted volume much of that intractability is now banished. Seventeen leading scholars in the field have laid out the microeconomic constituents of growth and relevant aspects of macroeconomic change. Rich empirical studies, extensive analysis of policies and programs, and the impact of ongoing liberalization since the early 1990s also find an ordered presence in this superb volume. It is surely destined to be the bible in its field for some years to come." --Peter Kilby, Professor of Economics, Wesleyan University

"Policymakers focus on macro-magnitudes first, urban-industrial growth next, agriculture last, and on the rural nonfarm economy hardly at all. Yet it creates at least one-third of rural income, output, and employment, and faces huge new prospects, but also huge threats, from post-liberalization supply chains. This path-breaking book organizes numerous examples and experiences into a new picture of what causes or impedes rural nonfarm growth, what makes it pro-poor, and what governments can do about it." --Michael Lipton, Research Professor of Economics, Poverty Research Unit, University of Sussex

"This volume has been a long time in the works, but the wait has been worthwhile. The topic is even more timely now, the data and analysis are updated so that a longer time horizon is covered, and the editors have taken the time to write several insightful synthesis chapters. The volume will surely be the standard reference on the rural nonfarm economy for the next decade." --C. Peter Timmer, Visiting Professor, Program on Food Security and Environment, Stanford University

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