中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Authors: Nicola Crosta

Date: octobre 2006

Published by OCDE

URL:

The New Rural Paradigm: Policies and Governance

Rural regions in OECD countries are not performing as well as urban areas. This weaker economic performance is driven by a number of factors which often lead to a vicious circle driving rural decline.

They include people moving away to urban areas and ageing, lower educational attainment, lower average labour productivity, and overall low levels of public service. However, the assets of rural regions, quality of life, natural heritage and the environment, plus improved transport links and infrastructure can serve to retain or attract people and businesses and contribute to a reversal of the out-migration.

While agriculture plays an important role in shaping the rural landscape in many OECD countries, its weight in rural economies is often low and declining. The resources from agricultural subsidies are not intended to trigger rural development directly and, in most cases, they do not do so. The main reason for this is that agricultural subsidies focus on a small segment of the rural population – farmers and others involved in agricultural enterprises – rather than on rural places or areas. Against this background, policy makers increasingly recognise that traditional sectoral policies need to be upgraded and, in some cases, phased out and substituted with more appropriate instruments. Indeed, with farm families relying increasingly on off-farm employment, the economic success of rural communities will depend on the development of new economic engines.

In this context, OECD governments are showing increasing interest in a more place-based approach to rural policy that aims to identify and exploit the varied development potential of rural areas. Several member countries are shifting from a top-down, subsidy-based strategy to a much broader family of policies designed to improve regional competitiveness (see Table 1). Two principles characterise this “new rural paradigm”: a focus on places instead of sectors; and a focus on investments instead of subsidies.

The New Rural Paradigm0

1. Objectives

2. Key target sectors

3. Main tools

4. Key actors

Old approach

1. Equalisation, Farm income, farm competitiveness

2. Agriculture

3. Subsidies

4. National governments, farmers

New approach

1. Competitiveness of rural areas, valorisation of local assets exploitation of unused resources

2. Various sectors of rural economies (ex. Rural tourism manufacturing, ICT industry, etc.)

3. Investments

4. All levels of government (supra-national, national, regional and local) various local stakeholders (public, private, NGOs)

The “new rural paradigm” requires a change in policy conception and implementation and a movement away from the traditional hierarchical administrative structures. Designing rural development policy for different communities involves pooling the knowledge held by multiple actors and increased use of partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors. There is a focus on local specificities as a means of generating new competitive advantages, such as amenities (environmental or cultural) or local products (traditional or labeled); and more attention to quasi public goods or “framework conditions” which support enterprise indirectly. It requires co-ordination to encourage the various institutional and managerial systems which formulate and implement rural policy to work together and political commitment to overcome sectoral tendencies. Integrated rural policies work, the place-based approach helps foster local level public-private partnerships and integrate new stakeholders and resources. These initiatives are developing a culture of cross-sectoral co-operation within central and local governments and thus more coherent policy initiatives. More importantly, there is recognition that a place-based approach requires more bottom-up as opposed to top-down initiatives. This produces new ways of co-ordinating vertically across levels of government and a better use of local knowledge.

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