Committee Serial No. 91-5. Considers S. 1072 and related S. 1090, to extend the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 and Title V of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 authorizing Federal funds for Regional Development Commissions; pt. 2, Committee Serial No. 91-5. Continuation of field hearings to examine progress of Regional Commissions. Considers. S. 1072, to make appropriations to all five Regional Commissions for next five years. S. 1090, to make appropriations to all five Regional Commissions for next two years. Includes Appalachian Regional Commission progress report "Progress Report of the Appalachian Regional Development Program 1965-1969" Mar. 4, 1969 (p. 991-1093). Apr. 11 hearing was held in Boston, Mass.; Apr. 18-19 hearings in Albuquerque, N.Mex.; Apr. 21 hearing in Provo, Utah; and May 5 hearing in Springfield, Mo.

Regional economic development has attracted the interest of economists, geographers, planners and regional scientists for a long time. And, of course, it is a field that has developed a large practitioner cohort in government and business agencies from the national down to the state and local levels. In planning for cities and regions, both large and small, economic development issues now tend to be integrated into strategic planning processes. For at least the last 50 years, scholars from various disciplines have theorised about the nature of regional economic development, developing a range of models seeking to explain the process of regional economic development, and why it is that regions vary so much in their economic structure and performance and how these aspects of a region can change dramatically over time. Regional scientists in particular have developed a comprehensive tool-kit of methodologies to measure and monitor regional economic characteristics such as industry sectors, employment, income, value of production, investment, and the like, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, and focusing on both static and dynamic analysis. The 'father of regional science', Walter lsard, was the first to put together a comprehensive volume on techniques of regional analysis (Isard 1960), and since then a huge literature has emerged, including the many titles in the series published by Springer in which this book is published.