What policies for rural economies in the post-Covid-19 era?

Abstract

The article deals with “What policies for rural economies in the post-Covid-19 era”, placing the theme in the economic, social and territorial framework discussed by the authors. As a result of the current health emergency, national and supranational institutions are approving interventions to address the dramatic effects expected on the economy. The question we ask ourselves is: what policies can act more effectively and timely on rural economies? In a dramatic scenario like what we are living today, the animal spirits – an expression coined by Keynes to indicate the complex of instinctive emotions that guide human behavior, in general, and the entrepreneurial one, in particular – are frightened and worried. All this is amplified if we consider rural economies, i.e. productive realities that already before the explosion of pandemic lived under a constant risk of marginality and potential “ready impotence”. Local Action Plans of LAGs containing sub-measures 16 are already approved and, therefore, immediately feasible. These interventions can therefore be seen as real incubators of local development models based on cooperation. “We can’t stand still waiting.

Keywords

Public health; COVID-19 pandemic; agriculture; Local development; human capital; agri-food systems

JEL codes

I18; R11; Q13