Headwaters Economics

Independent Nonpartisan Research

Ray Rasker, Ph.D.

Ray enjoys working with people in rural communities who are passionate about their place. He grew up in Mexico City in a Dutch household and came to the U.S. as a student. After obtaining B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Washington and Master’s in Agriculture from Colorado State University, he went on to study economics, earning a Ph.D. from the College of Forestry (economics), Oregon State University. He has written widely on rural development and the role of environmental quality in economic prosperity and is well known in policy circles in the U.S. and Canada. Ray retired in 2021 and can be reached at rayrasker@gmail.com or 406 570-7044

Posts by Ray

The Value of Montana’s Outdoors

Montana’s outdoors attracts people and talent, creating jobs and a high quality of life. The outdoors is essential to the state’s future economic growth.

Public Land Ownership in the United States

Public lands influence the economy, demographics, and fiscal policies of communities. Explore maps and county-level data for the 828 million acres of federal, state, and municipal land in the U.S.

People and Public Lands Essays

What is the economic impact of America’s public lands and waters? How can we quantify how these remarkable resources contribute to our quality of life? And how are our valuation methods and public policies changing?

Populations at Risk

Populations at Risk quickly and easily generates and downloads reports about populations more likely to experience adverse social, health, or economic outcomes.

Gallatin County’s Economy, Growth, and Open Space

This report summarizes Gallatin County’s economy, how it has grown, and what is driving its performance. The report also describes how growth threatens open space and the role these lands play in local quality of life.

Lessons from the Timber Transition

Western counties once dependent on timber today perform similarly to like-sized counties. Three case studies outline economic lessons from counties that weathered the timber transition.

Economy Surprisingly Dependent on Non-Labor Income

Non-labor income sources such as investments, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid often are the largest and fastest growing sources of personal income for many counties. Rural counties especially are surprisingly dependent on non-labor income.

The Value of Public Lands

Headwaters Economics compiled a number of regional reports, case studies, tools, research library, and related news articles on the value of public lands to nearby communities.

Rural Communities, School Kids, and Federal Lands in the West

While most western rural counties are aging and losing young families, the loss of school kids in rural western counties with protected lands such as National Monuments was, on average, less than half the rate of loss for similar counties without protected lands.