INCOME-DISTRIBUTION CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL ECONOMIC SECTORS - IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Recent trends suggest increasing reliance on private markets to provid e for local economic well-being. This research demonstrates the study of regional household income distribution patterns associated with pro ductive activities important to many rural areas. A social accounting matrix analysis was used to examine agricultural production, agricultu ral processing, forestry production, forest products processing, and t ourism in a small rural region in Wisconsin to illustrate the variable distributional characteristics of private market structures and relat ed local economic development policy. The results showed that while hi gh income households comprised 22 percent of total regional households in the study area, they received between 57 percent and 63 percent of earned income associated with changes in sectoral factor income. Medi um income households (34 percent of regional households) received betw een 32 percent and 41 percent of earned income, and low income househo lds (44 percent) received between 2 percent and 6 percent. The ability of local policy to influence distributional patterns is implied to th e extent that local action can facilitate variable growth rates of tar geted economic sectors.