International Journal of Economic Development the changing role of government in economic development.

• Author: Blair, Robert

Many public officials consider economic development and growth essential to the future of their cities and states. They measure the economic and social well being of their communities in terms of increases in population, jobs, companies, etc. (Peterson, 1981; Calavita, 1995). Through public policy efforts government forged partnerships with other beneficiaries of economic development, especially private business. Community leaders then encouraged business expansion and other components of urban and economic development (Morgan and England, 1996: p. 369; Judd and Swanstrom, 1994: p. 339), often resulting in local variations of an "urban growth machine" (Logan and Molotch, 1987). Historically, then, government assumed a primary role in attempts to foster economic development and business growth through policy initiatives and partnerships with the private sector.

Many scholars, however, have noted the changing nature of the involvement of government in the formulation and implementation of economic development. For many years this policy consisted of simply attracting industrial and manufacturing entities to a community by improving the local infrastructure and reducing the supply costs to a firm with a goal of expanding the area's primary employment base (Moriarty, 1980). Today, most would agree that economic development is comprised of a collection of intricate strategies with a complex set of goals including the expansion of entrepreneurial opportunities, assisting with product development and marketing, and undertaking a variety of other "demand side" policy efforts to foster the growth and of new and existing firms and extend the range and scope of employment opportunities (Eisinger, 1988). Factors like an increasingly technical economy, a growing global market place, and the devolution of many domestic policies to the states have influenced the approach to economic development.

In spite of the growing sophistication of economic development, one characteristic remains constant: the goal of economic development is to create and foster the growth and well being of the private sector through the efforts of public policy initiatives and programs. In other words, government and the public sector remains deeply involved in this policy area that primarily benefit the private sector. Government and business continue to partner in the formulation and implementation of economic development policy. However, like the policy itself, the nature of the...