THE DETERMINANTS OF INNOVATION IN STATE GROWTH MANAGEMENT POLIC

A number of social, economic and political characteristics of the American states were examined to determine which factors contribute to innovation in public policy. Growth management legislation was selected as a policy issue area for testing alternative theoretical explanations of innovation. Four dimensions of growth management were considered: population stabilization, land use, economic development, and environmental resource management. Policy innovation in the states was measured by an index, developed from each state's record in adopting innovative growth management programs. Only programs adopted during a ten-year period between 1965 and 1975 were examined. The study does not address the diffusion process; rather, the focus is strictly on early adopters of selected growth management programs.;Major theoretically explanations of policy innovation were tested including: (1) the propensity to be innovative as measured by past trends; (2) the ability to innovate as measured by economic and fiscal resources; (3) political characteristics such as party competition and voter participation rates; and (4) various growth pressures stemming from economic and demographic changes.;The findings reveal economic and demographic change to be significant determinants of growth management innovation in the states. Fiscal ability and political characteristics have little relationship to policy innovation. Policy innovativeness as a general trait among particular states is rejected in favor of an evolving pattern of innovation in which new leaders are constantly emerging and old ones receding. The results have broader implications for change, especially economic and demographic change, as a motivating force in American politics.