Problems in evaluating economic development politics : an urban perspective

The central concern in this paper is with the way we think about economic development at the local level. I turn first to a look at the local context of economic development policymaking, then to the strategy derived from this context and the resultant “politics of growth”. Finally, I focus on the need for a theoretically grounded model to evalate the economic development efforts of local public officials. Mayors and scholars alike must begin the task of building such a model by first recognizing the importance of conducting their work within a theoretical framework which places the city within the larger political, social, and economic context which defines it. The central reality of that wider context, I argue, is that the business community dominates economic development politics: businessmen Issue commands (as a condition of investing in the local economy) and politicians offer inducements (in competition with other politicians for that investment).