America's New Frontier

My belief in the importance of sound policy for the West may be influenced by my nearness to and sympathy with western problems, but it also has a more objective basis.I re- gard this book as an experiment in the regional approach to economic analysis and policy.The spatial, or place, aspects of economic problems frequently are not recognized in the literature of Economics.Too little attention is paid to the fact that our national economy is composed of a number of distinct regions which have peculiar characteristics of their own.It should be evident, for example, that the decisions of a large-scale corporate enterprise concerning such things as the location and operation of its plants, its method of quot- ing prices, and its sales and advertising policy have regional repercussions.Nevertheless, economists have ignored the re- gional phases of the problem of economic concentration al- most entirely, while devoting most of their attention to the functional aspects of the problem utilization of resources, income distribution, and so forth.In the same way legislative or administrative policy decisions of the federal government often are determined on purely functional grounds without regard for the different repercussions of a given policy in the various regions of the country.xi Preface tain West.I hope, also, that it will stimulate further research in the economic and social problems of the West.More data are needed on income flows, investment, and gross regional product.The present volume is merely exploratory in these directions.Studies of costs and benefits of developmental projects should be carried further and disseminated much more widely than at present.Other desirable research proj- ects of a regional nature will occur readily to the reader.I am aware that a good deal of what I have said is con- troversial and expresses a point of view which others may not share.Consequently, I wish to make it clear that I am solely responsible for the views expressed, even though my debt to many persons with whom I have consulted is very great indeed.Much of the work on the regional balance of payments is that of Professor J.Howard Craven of the De- partment of Economics of the

Archaeology · Economic geography · Frontier · Geography · American Environmental and Regional History · Geology

• The Sagebrush Resurrection

  Leonard J Arrington•Pacific Historical Review•1983

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• Economic Security and Individual Freedom

  F L Nussbaum, Albert Lauterbach•The Western Political Quarterly•1949

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• Internal Migration in Peace and War

  Henry S Shryock, Hope Tisdale Eldridge•American Sociological Review•1947

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• The Persistence of the Westward Movement and Other Essays

  Arthur P Whitaker, John Carl Parish•Hispanic American Historical Review•1945

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