ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study that describes what kinds of economic activity local authorities undertake, for what purposes and under what institutional constraints and possibilities. It confirms the findings of recent reports which show that local authorities in the assisted areas tend to have a greater organisational commitment and undertake a wider range of activities than other authorities. The chapter also discusses the control exercised by higher levels of government through their planning powers and general supervisory functions and it is clear that some constraints stem from this, at least formally and particularly in Germany. Local authorities have in Germany and England, used variations in organisational structure as central elements in the mobilisation of their own resources in the economic development field. In Germany the OSTD has always had a co-ordinative role and requires no formal organisational responsibility to act, but in England the Chief Executive's role remains less clear and the growth of an explicit co-ordinative function is more recent.
