Two rural counties served as model areas in a comparison of the size and sequence of socioeconomic changes that investment in communications, as opposed to investment in transportation networks, might stimulate. A series of communications, rail, and highway changes were simulated through the use of an econometric model. An Industrial Communication Index was used to project the influence of communications on plant location and output. The simulations for 1975 through 1990 showed that communications investments led to larger, more dispersed, and cumulative impacts than did transportation investments. The findings support the view that communications improvements can enhance economic development, influence location decisions, and be used to forecast the location of output for some industries. (FL)