Growth and Change is a broadly based forum for scholarly research on all aspects of urban and regional development and policy-making. Interdisciplinary in scope, the journal publishes both empirical and theoretical contributions from economics, geography, public finance, urban and regional planning, agricultural economics, public policy, and related fields. These include full-length research articles, Perspectives (contemporary assessments and views on significant issues in urban and regional development) as well as critical book reviews.

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Announcing a Forthcoming Growth and Change Special Issue:
Guest Editors: Mark Partridge, The Ohio State University
Rose Olfert, U of Saskatchewan
Best Practices in Rural Development and Policy

This theme issue on best practices in rural development and policy is especially timely as stimulus packages and international resolve to cooperate in promoting economic growth proliferate. While the focus is primarily on national economies and international interdependencies, the economic recovery will, of course, depend on individual households and businesses in rural and urban areas alike. How rural areas participate in the recovery efforts and the restructuring that is likely implied will depend upon the extent to which 'Best Practices' are followed in the state, provincial and local setting where new opportunities may present themselves or decline is threatening. Recent empirical research forms the bases for evolving Best Practices.

Drawing from international experience, the topics to be addressed in this special issue include consideration of Best Practices in terms of both conditions within rural communities as well as relationships with urban areas, and extend to the consideration of the role of governance and infrastructure. Quality of life concerns have been, and will continue to be, important in the location decisions of households, and indirectly firms. Defining the community attributes that contribute to quality of life, for example lower crime rates, and maintaining or enhancing these attributes is thus a key concern for rural communities. The extent to which voluntary organizations and civic engagement can both contribute to quality of life directly and promote and support novel ideas and innovation will affect outcomes on this aspect of rural development. Public expenditures on rural infrastructure is a common recommendation both to improve rural living conditions and access to services, as well as a short term stimulus to employment. Such advocacy would be informed by empirical study of the relationship between infrastructure and rural development.

Rural household characteristics such as home ownership may affect labor market participation and resilience to periods of unemployment differently than is expected in urban areas. One question is whether very low housing prices in distressed rural areas may impede migration to more economically vibrant regions. Human capital is a generally accepted asset to rural development and growth. However, the location choices of university graduates, for example, may be biased in favor of only a subset of rural areas with particular characteristics, such as access to urban amenities. Further, successful rural development necessitates the matching of labor force skills/training with local rural labor market demand. More evidence on these relationships is necessary for policy development.

Beyond the rural community itself, and given the continuing concentration of economic activity in urban areas, rural out-commuting to urban employment opportunities is sometimes advocated as the best rural development policy. Strategies regarding this form of rural-urban integration must be informed by empirical findings regarding the nature and determinants of the rural out-commuting, as well as the relationship between commuting and local economic growth. The resulting broad functional economic regions then have much to say about what would be the optimal governance arrangements.

Highlights from Previously Published Issues

The Governance of Global Production Networks and Regional Development: A Case Study of Taiwanese PC Production Networks (Volume 40, Issue 1)
Daniel You-Ren Yang, Neil M. Coe

Spatial Agglomeration, Technological Innovations, and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Italian Industrial Districts (Volume 39, Issue 1)
Giulio Cainelli

Ireland's Foreign-Owned Technology Sector: Evolving Towards Sustainability? (Volume 39, Issue 3)
Patrick Collins, Seamus Grimes

International Trade and the Changing Demand for Skilled Workers in High-Tech Manufacturing (Volume 39, Issue 2)
Julie A. Silva

Does a Rising Tide Lift All Metropolitan Boats? Assessing Poverty Dynamics by Metropolitan Size and County Type (Volume 39, Issue 2)
Mark D. Partridge, Dan S. Rickman

Agglomeration Potential: The Spatial Scale of Industry Linkages in the Southern California Economy (Volume 39, Issue 1)
Richard G. Funderburg, Marlon G. Boarnet

Quality of Life and the Migration of the College-Educated: A Life-Course Approach (Volume 39, Issue 1)
Ronald L. Whisler, Brigitte S. Waldorf, Gordon F. Mulligan, David A. Plane

SPECIAL THEME ARTICLES: CULTURAL COMMODITY CHAINS
(Volume 39, Issue 1)

Cultural Commodity Chains, Cultural Clusters, or Cultural Production Chains?
Andy C. Pratt

Beyond 'Global Production Networks': Australian Fashion Week's Trans-Sectoral Synergies
Sally Weller

No Man's Brand - Brands, Institutions, and Fashion
Dominic Power, Atle Hauge

Design, National Imaginaries, and the Home Furnishings Commodity Chain
Suzanne Reimer, Deborah Leslie

Towards the Spatial Patterns of Sectoral Adjustments to Trade Liberalisation: The Case of NAFTA in Mexico (Volume 38, Issue 4)
Benjamin Faber

Regional Business Cycles and the Emergence of Sheltered Economies in the Southern Periphery of Europe (Volume 38, Issue 4)
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Ugo Fratesi

The Power of Governance in Financial Relationships: Governing Tensions in Exotic Infrastructure Territory (Volume 38, Issue 4)
Morag I. Torrance

Space, Time, and Local Employment Growth: An Application of Spatial Regression Analysis (Volume 38, Issue 4)
Richard Shearmur, Philippe Apparicio, Pauline Lizion, Mario Polèse

Differences in Labor versus Value Chain Industry Clusters: An Empirical Investigation (Volume 38, Issue 3)
Henry Renski, Jun Koo, Edward Feser

Firm Networks and Korean Subsidiaries in the United States (Volume 38, Issue 3)
Douglas R. Gress, Jessie P.H. Poon

Indices of Industrial Diversity and Regional Economic Composition (Volume 38, Issue 3)
Elizabeth Mack, Tony H. Grubesic, Erin Kessler