More Employers, More Jobs, More Money: An Empirical Analysis of Local Economic Development Policy Impacts in U.S. Cities

Authors

  • Stuart Strother Azusa Pacific University, School of Business and Management, California

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/PAN0704445S

Keywords:

Economic development, Cities, Attraction, Retention, Incentives

Abstract

Local government leaders in the U. S. employ a multitude of programs and policies in the name of economic development to increase the number of firms, employment, wages, and, of course, the tax base. The past few decades have seen a surge in local economic development policies, yet research analyzing their effectiveness is sparse. This study analyzes the relationship between local economic development policy and economic growth in a data set of 412 U. S. cities. Results indicate that policy has only has a weak correlation with economic growth, suggesting that growth is determined more by market conditions rather than government intervention. The article concludes with an entrepreneurial policy approach this author believes may yield development results in an era of limited policy effectiveness.

Key words: Economic development, Cities, Attraction, Retention, Incentives.
JEL: H70, O20, O51.

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Published

2007-10-10

How to Cite

Strother, S. (2007). More Employers, More Jobs, More Money: An Empirical Analysis of Local Economic Development Policy Impacts in U.S. Cities. Panoeconomicus, 54(4), 445–467. https://doi.org/10.2298/PAN0704445S

Issue

Section

Original scientific paper