本文主張全球政治經濟轉變下的產業變遷，是解釋晚近苗栗北部客庄－竹南、頭份－地方重構的主要原因。1990與2000年代中期，苗栗的竹南、頭份在新興產業的擴張與既有產業外移下，地方政府與政治、經濟菁英，運用土地開發創造了以「土地」為資本積累核心的經濟活動；這一經濟活動，雖然造就短期繁榮，但卻也帶來產業結構變遷、所得分配變化，以及地方金融與財政債務化的風險與挑戰。在全球政經變遷驅動地方社會重構之際，本文也主張，苗栗因其地緣發展的時間與空間相對延遲位置，造就台灣戰後第二大客家聚落形成獨特經濟發展模式；這種模式正為既有客家族群聚落帶來嚴峻的衝擊。

This study suggests that the industrial transition under the global economy is the main reason for the recent transformation of Hakka settlements in Miaoli, Taiwan after the 1990s. The cases of Chunan and Toufen towns in northern Miaoli, the second largest Hakka population county in Taiwan, have shown the land-based capital accumulation model as local economic development, and the pros and cons for the local clusters. We argue that the local Hakka settlements in Taiwan are not excluded from the transformation of the global economy and thus have faced the challenges of its traditional culture under this transition.