Abstract

The social, cultural and economic transitions in rural areas across the globe lead us to critique the traditional “top-down” or “bottom-up” distinction as being outdated for contemporary rural policy. In Europe and the US in particular, high rates of counterurbanization
heighten the need for new ways of thinking about rural
development.
To address this, we describe the emergence of neo-endogenous
development theories in the UK and elucidate further on the
economic implications of this approach for rural development. In particular, we examine the role of local and extra-local networks and population flows as facilitators of neo-endogenous development based on our independent studies in the North East of England and
Northern Scotland.
This approach highlights the importance of diverse forms of capital in rural economies and examines the role of social networks in the utilization of these resources. In-migrant business owners are a valuable research focus as they provide a link between the ‘local’ and the ‘extra-local’ allowing greater insight into the creation and evolution of network ties in relation to economic activity in rural areas.