Economic Development Quarterly

Technology has promised many benefits to consumers and businesses, and it is easy to be beguiled into believing that all of those benefits will be forthcoming if only, and only if, large investments in equipment are made immediately and everywhere. This reasoning is faulty because those benefits insofar as they are demanded by end-users, will be supplied, if not by regulated telcos, then by their competitors. This article suggests a "micro-macro" approach to policy. Its primary aim is to coordinate and integrate dispersed sources of demand. The strategy will achieve the benefits of an information-rich society in the most critical areas of social concern, distributing them over both urban and rural areas in a reasonable time frame. By establishing goals for health-related and education-related information systems, installing the necessary technological base to link suppliers to customers over a dispersed and diverse client group, and minimizing the noneconomic investment needed to create a market for such services, industry and regulators, working together, can rationalize infrastructure investment without sacrificing either too much efficiency or too much equity. This strategy will go far to resolve the fundamental tension between two goals: uniform availability, and competitive efficiency.

Economic development has evolved as a legitimate professional discipline. A profession is only as good as the educational foundation upon which it rests. This article sets forth an agenda for strengthening the economic development education network as we enter the last decade of this century. It calls for actions to (1) modify the curriculum for practitioners, (2) alter the education delivery system, and (3) expand the audience for economic development education. More emphasis must be placed on incorporating economic development within broader community development undertakings, if "no-growth" backlash movements are to be avoided. Advanced technologies must be employed to deliver educational offerings more efficiently to rural economic developers. Universities must be encouraged to offer more degree programs in economic development. A broadly based community education program is needed if the general public is to gain a better understanding of the services performed by economic developers.

Community leaders are expected to take greater responsibility for their economies, though they are often ill-equipped for this task As they struggle to create jobs they find themselves competing with communities not just in the United States, but around the world. This study reports on the efforts of one community, Louisville, Kentucky, to shape a rational economic development approach. This effort ultimately leads to a redefinition of local regime that is likely to be imitated by other communities in the future.

The relationship between environmental turbulence and the economic development strategies followed by municipalities is described. A belief that the economic environment is not controllable is associated with an increase in formalistic activities, as well as a sense that economic development policies redistribute wealth to businesses. In more placid environments, attention is paid to improving public and private cooperation. Though local economic conditions as well as the amount of political pressure influence economic development approaches, the effect of turbulence remains important.

This article uses data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) grant agreement data base and a survey of 169 rural UDAG projects to evaluate the job-creation success of rural UDAG projects. The authors draw the following conclusions. First, the rural component of the UDAG program has created the number of jobs promised in the original grant agreements. Second, there is little evidence that UDAG projects have resulted in job creation outside of the UDAG recipient firms. Finally, the federal cost of creating a rural manufacturing job through the UDAG program is approximately $5,546. This cost represents the sum of the federal UDAG grants in a sample of 115 projects divided by the number of jobs created in the same projects.

This article is a study of the microgeographic locational factors involved in a large industrialplant siting decision. The case studied in this instance is the General Motors truck assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This plant, which became operational in 1986, produces 250 pick-up trucks daily in two shifts employing over 3, 500 workers. It is a key factor in the area's economic recovery after the closing of the International Harvester truck plant in 1983. The focus of this inquiry is the decisive and incisive factors that led to the locational decision in Fort Wayne. The decisive factors examined are the land-use features, transportation linkages, and utility connections that were required to make the Fort Wayne site a suitable location for a truck assembly plant. An incisive factor examined is the financial assistance package prepared by city, county, and state governments to close the deal.

The continuing concentration of employment within the service sector of the U.S. economy has significant implications for urban regions undergoing deindustrialization and structural economic change. The growth of the service sector has evoked different opinions among social scientists and policymakers regarding the significance of service industries as recent research has pointed out the potential importance of services in export trade and as a source of future economic growth. Precise answers to questions regarding service sector growth are problematic because analyses of the service economy continue to rely upon theoretical concepts and methodological approaches that are fraught with problems. This article outlines the framework of a new conceptual approach to the service economy and discusses important issues that must be addressed in order to assess the implications of service sector growth for urban economies undergoing structural change.

Since 1980 there has been both a rapid escalation in the costs associated with industrial recruitment and a dramatic increase in the number of states vying for new auto assembly facilities. The following study reviews both the business and nonbusiness factors relevant in location determination and focuses upon the Nissan, Mazda, Saturn, Diamond-Star, Toyota, and Fuji-Isuzu plant announcements and the offered state incentive packages that have led to the recent formation of the "Japanese Auto Alley.

The telecommunications infrastructure of the U.S. is becoming an increasingly important component of the economy. In many industries, fast and efficient telecommunications is essential for survival in a competitive environment. The relation between telecommunications and economic development is not well understood, at least in terms of the actual or potential effect of public policy on this relationship. Furthermore, federal deregulation of telecommunications has placed greater policy responsibility on state and local governments. A better understanding of the telecommunications industry is important as state and local governments attempt to use telecommunications policy as a tool for economic development. This article serves three purposes: (1) to identify the forces of change in telecommunications policy, (2) to describe the linkages between telecommunications and economic development, and (3) to examine the policy making environment and public policy issues faced by state and local governments.