This book charts the development of the new rural economy and considers whether government policy has similarly developed. In the rural economy, tourism now employs more people that agriculture, and the agricultural sector itself has become much more diverse. But the government bodies charged with delivering countryside policy very often seem wedded to a view of the rural economy and the traditional agricultural sector as synonymous. In "The New Rural Economy", Professor Berkeley Hill of Imperial College London analyzes the appropriate roles of the public and private sectors in the developing rural economy and questions whether evidence of 'market failure' necessarily justifies government intervention, if 'government failure' imposes greater costs than the problems intervention was intended to remedy.This book is an essential reading for those concerned with the development of the countryside and the proper role of government in creating a sustainable, long-term future for those living and working in rural Britain.