ABSTRACT
Local politics affects the geography of economic activity in many ways. It is perhaps rarely the most important influence, but its implications can scarcely be ignored. In most countries, city and local governments are major economic actors, employing large workforces, spending significant budgets and providing the local population with goods and services. Investments in particular places by both private and public sectors are influenced by planning, environmental, infrastructural, educational and cultural circumstances, which are in turn controlled or affected by local political institutions and processes. Local political campaigns around issues as diverse as environmental protection, labour relations, housing, service provision, education and many others have consequences for the direction of economic change. At the same time, the influence does not run only one way. Firms and business organizations use a variety of techniques to influence local political decision-makers, while local political institutions often depend directly or indirectly on the prosperity of the local economy for their resources.
