In this comprehensive essay on rural economic development, authors David Vail and Michael Hillard describe key trends and past changes which are shaping rural America’s–and in particular, rural Maine’s–economic future. They conclude with seven hypotheses about rural Maine’s socioeconomic crisis, and call for the development of a state-level strategy for rural development that fully accounts for Maine’s varied resources, geography, and opportunities. An abbreviated version of this essay was previously published by the Maine Rural Development Council in its Fall 1995 newsletter, Rural Connections.