IN the examination of economic relations one frequently encounters circumstances in which a general effect may be observed to flow from some action; but frequently the means have not been developed to the point where the major variables may be satisfactorily understood or the effects adequately measured. In the investigation of cause and effect relations in small geographical areas which are interdependent parts of a larger area this appears to be the case. Here one senses, and can observe to some extent, the disturbances accompanying or following some activity, such as a shift in the schedule of local exports (e.g., due to a newly located plant), but techniques have not generally been developed to the point which would bring some exactness and accuracy to the measurement of such changes. It is this problem with which this paper is concerned. An examination will be made of some statistical evidence of the local employment multiplier in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Attention will be focused upon the relationship of changes in employment (i.e., employment sustained by an inflow of external receipts) to changes in total employment in this area. Some attention has been given by investigators to factors affecting regional income and employment and economic growth. The most fruitful approach seems to lie in the application of aggregate income and multiplier techniques to the area under investigation. However, data on local income, expenditures, and money-flows are meager and exceedingly difficult to measure. Additionally, the complex interrelationships of income, investment, exports, and imports make examination of causal relationships among these variables extremely precarious. The first difficulty seems to have led some investigators to use the more accessible employment data. The latter obstacle, of course, is not removed by this means. The original Kahn multiplier was an employment multiplier; and Keynes's income multiplier would tend to be identical with the employment multiplier under certain conditions.' Colin Clark's studies of the relationship of foreign trade and national income led to an analysis and estimate of the foreign trade multiplier.2 Local employment multiplier analysis narrows the scope to an examination of the total local employment effects of changes in employment in nonlocalized (export) industries. Put most simply, the hypothesis states that an increase in nonlocalized employment will increase total local employment by an amount greater than the initial increase in employment (thus a multiplier coefficient greater than i.oo).3 The area examined for veidence of a local employment multiplier was theLincoln, Nebraska metropolitan area. The limits of the