Interest Groups, County Characteristics, and Local Growth Management Policy Instruments

The primary intent of this study is to investigate what factors drive local governments to implement growth management policy instruments. To answer this research question, this study chose Colorado counties, where local governments voluntarily adopt and implement growth management policy instruments. That means that a wide variation in growth management policy instrument implementation appears among Colorado’s local governments. That is to say, some counties more actively implement growth management policy instruments while the rest of counties do not. Utilizing a statistical tool, this article tests seven hypotheses based on the interest group model and county characteristics to empirically explicate this uneven implementation phenomenon of growth management policy instruments across Colorado. The analyzed results prove that counties with many anti-growth management policy interest groups are less likely to implement growth management policy instruments. In addition, the analyzed results demonstrate both that counties earning more income from tourism and counties with highly educated residents are more likely to implement growth management policy instruments, while counties supporting the Democratic Party are less likely to implement growth management policy instruments.