Nonmetro governments paid about the same interest rates on municipal bonds sold in 1977 as metro governments, even though policymakers commonly believed that rural governments had more limited access to regional and national bond markets. The movement toward State taxing limitations and the tightening of Federal budgets may make the bond market a more important source of local government construction funds. This study indicates that rural governments in general should have as much (or as little) access to the bond market as urban governments.
