Fiscal Strain on Local Governments -- The Effect of Changing Populations

Together with the continued interregional migration to the sunbelt states, the recent intraregional trend into nonmetropolitan areas has added to problems facing local governments throughout the Northeast. This paper is concerned with changes in local government expenditures and revenues that have accompanied population growth and decline and related shifts in population composition in county areas of the Northeast over the 1962-1976 period. Using both bivariate and regression analysis, the impact of population change on local government fiscal positions is examined within a demand and supply framework.