Mission
Headwaters Economics is an independent, nonprofit research group. Our mission is to improve community development and land management decisions in the West.

Latest Work

Unemployment: How Counties Performed During the Past Two Recessions

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Not all counties peformed equally during the past two recessions. Click on the map at right to see trends in annual county unemployment rates from 1991 to 2009. For specific county profiles, visit our EPS-HDT page.

Oil Shale: 14 Unanswered Questions

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Headwaters Economics has produced a report that summarizes recent research and policy documents concerning the current status of oil shale development in the West, including 14 unanswered questions about the viability of oil shale production at a commercial scale. Also see our Energy and the West series on the impact of oil and natural gas development.

The Three Wests: Access to Markets, Understanding Communities, and Economic Growth

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This web-based interactive tool helps community leaders learn more about their county and compare it to others. Our research shows that there are Three Wests; distinctly different types of counties across the West, defined by access to major markets.

Wildfire: Impacts and Costs of Residential
Development

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Several of our studies and a recent white paper show that the combination of continued growth in the wildland urban interface and increasing temperatures could more than double fire suppression costs in the next 15 years. Our newsletter has more on the cost of protecting homes.