At this conference, researchers presented their current work on rural conditions such as demographic changes, business trends, and local distress.

Overview of ERS Typologies
Moderator: Leslie Whitener, Chief, Rural Economy Branch, ERS
Rural-urban Continuum Codes, Calvin Beale
Urban Influence and ERS Typology Codes, Linda Ghelfi
Sub-county Rural-urban Typology, John Cromartie
Low-wage County Codes, Robert Gibbs
Natural Amenity Index, David McGranahan
All presenters are members of the Rural Economy Branch, ERS

The Rural Indicators Map Machine: A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Rural Data Visualization
Chris Dicken, Infomation Services Division, ERS

How Other Nations Characterize Rural Areas

Rural Development Indicators and Diversity in the European Union
John Bryden, University of Aberdeen and Rural Policy Research Institute Fellow 2002

Exploring Diversity in Rural Canada
Bill Reimer, Concordia University

Socio-Demographics of Rural America

Does Place Still Matter? Accounting for Income Variation Across American Indian Tribal Areas (Abstract)
Robin Leichenko, Rutgers University

Hispanic Growth and Dispersion in Rural America (Abstract)
John Cromartie and William Kandel, ERS

Business Organization in Rural America

Proprietor-Employment-Dependent Counties
Stephan Goetz, Northeast Rural Development Center, Pennsylvania State University

Access to Low Cost Groceries in Nonmetropolitan Counties: Large Retailers and the Creation of Food Deserts
Troy Blanchard, Mississippi State University, and Thomas Lyson, Cornell University

Alternative/Modified Measures of County Distress

Measuring Economic Distress: A Comparison of Designations and Measures
Amy Glasmeier, Larry Wood, Pennsylvania State University, and Kurt Fuellhart, Shippensburg University

Persistent Poverty and Place: How Do Persistent Poverty and Poverty Demographics Vary Across the Rural-Urban Continuum?
Kathleen Miller, Rural Policy Research Institute, Mindy Crandall, Oregon State University, and Bruce Weber, Oregon State University

Changing Definitions and Level of Analysis

Creating Metropolitan and Micropolitan Stastistical Areas
Michael Ratcliffe, U.S. Census Bureau

Your Place or Mine? The Plausibility of Place and Other Sub-County Typologies
Charles M. Tolbert, II, Baylor University, Troy C. Blanchard, Mississippi State University, and Alfred R. Nucci, U.S. Census Bureau

New Technologies for Examining Rural Issues

Visualizing Rural Diversity: An Overview of the RUPRI Community Informatics Resource Center
Chris Fulcher, Rural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri

Communities at Risk: Wildland Fire and Rural Housing Growth During the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington
Roger B. Hammer and Volker C. Radeloff, University of Wisconsin, and Jeremy S. Fried, USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon

Closing Discussion

Where Should ERS Rural Diversity Measures Go From Here?
Andy Isserman, University of Illinois