Since the economies of mature industrial societies are fairly well regulated by fiscal and monetary policies, it stands to reason that investment and wage policies, if correctly applied, can encourage growth. The assumption is that if a region is made more economically productive then all the benefits of modern society will flow into it, while it, in turn, will make an equal contribution to the national product. This assumption can be applied to regions which have not shared the rise in prosperity characteristic of the nation generally. It is argued, however, that this assumption (1) grossly underestimates the social change required of a depressed region and (2) entirely overlooks concomitant changes required in the prosperous regions and the nation generally.