Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, fundamentally, rural counties are obviously different than urban counties, so we can't expect rural counties to attract the same kind of jobs. And what rural counties should do is use their advantages, which are space, lower costs, available labor and natural amenities. Now one of the industries that definitely fit rural counties is agriculture. And the good news is that agriculture is expected to expand over the next 20 years, with the growing world population and growing standard of living across the world. And North Carolina has a very productive farming sector. Secondly, manufacturing. You can still attract manufacturing firms to rural areas to take advantage of lower costs as long as those manufacturers have a way to move their products into the bigger urban markets. In terms of attracting businesses that are based on those natural amenities that we find in rural areas, this is where we would find tourism, second home, retirement communities and also what I call foot-loose professionals . . . professional jobs, professional firms that want to take advantage of the pretty rural environment and perhaps use modern technology to still communicate with their urban clients."