The Socioeconomic Impact Of Resource Development: Methods For Assessment

Large-scale industrial and energy-development projects are profoundly affecting the social and economic climate of rural areas across the nation, creating a need for extensive planning information, both to prepare for the effects of such developments and to meet state and federal environmental impact assessment requirements. This book examines alternative methods of modelling the economic, demographic, public service, fiscal, and social impacts of major development projects. The authors provide a synthesis of the conceptual bases, estimation techniques, data requirements, and types of output available, focusing on models that address multiple impact dimensions and produce information at the county and subcounty levels. They also look at the kind of data each model produces in each impact category.

F. Larry Leistritz is professor of agricultural economics and director of sponsored programs at North Dakota State University. In a study begun in 1973, he conducted extensive research on economic and fiscal impacts of resource development projects. Steven H. Murdock is associate professor of rural sociology at Texas ASM University.