Distributing the Benefits of Regional Economic Development

A rapid and substantial surge of regional growth can result in a highly uneven distribution of development across an urban region's localities. But the benefits of growth for local communities can be more evenly distributed. A growth model combining both infill and footloose components was used to analyse the differential job, tax base and population growth among the 365 contiguous municipalities of northern New Jersey for a period in the 1980s when the region gained 400 000 jobs but only 150 000 new residents. The growth analysis was followed by an examination of the distribution of six proposed benefit measures. The findings indicate a wider distribution of benefits than of growth per se, strong stability in the distribution of benefits among communities, significant gains for communities that grew most rapidly, and considerable benefits for communities that experienced little or no growth.