RRD 172 The Economics of Population Settlement:
Cost of Alternative Growth Patterns
An Essay and Annotated Bibliography

Policies for economic development in nonmetro areas have focused on the labor force, community organization and boosterism, and subsidies of several sorts in the form of tax breaks, low-cost loans and public services to attract employers. These have not been adequate to the task as nonmetro incomes fall further behinds. There is room for a new perspective that looks beyond nonmetro areas to the broader population settlement system of which they are a part. This report provides an essay and annotated bibliography of literature that describes the emerging patterns of growth and answers questions with respect to congestion costs and public service costs associated with different-sized and -density places.

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