ABSTRACT
The existence of regional unemployment on a serious scale seems to be the factor which exerts the greatest influence in inducing Governments to take action. But this action is probably prompted as much by the political consequences of unemployment and the social need to give everyone an opportunity for work as by considerations of making the best use of the nation's economic resources. The political implications of the regional problem have been clearly illustrated in Britain by the electoral results of recent years. The economic aspects of the case both for and against regional policy were first set out in detail as they applied to Britain by the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Industrial Population. The importance to the control of inflation of a regional balance in the level of economic activity is fairly obvious. A much more important argument connected with social capital, commonly used to support a regional development policy, is associated with the costs of congestion.
