ABSTRACT
Narrowly understood, economic development is the process of stimulating business investment to expand employment and tax revenues. More broadly construed, it is a strategy for improving the economic and social assets of the community to not only promote economic activity but also foster the conditions where discovery and innovation occur and more people are brought into productive activities.I The former mayor of Philadelphia, Edward Rendell, used to claim that he spent 70 percent of his time at City Hall trying to promote economic development.2 It is easy to understand why. Most cities have suffered in recent decades as a result of industrial dispersal and other forms of capital disinvestment, and the ripple effects have been devastating: soaring unemployment and poverty, population loss, a crumbling tax base, fiscal crises, deteriorating public services, and a declining quality oflife. Failure to pursue new sources of business investment energetically risks dooming a city to ever worsening levels of economic distress. On the other hand, effective economic development policies promise to generate employment, reduce poverty, raise incomes, boost tax revenues, and improve public services. In the minds of most city leaders, the key to urban revitalization is economic growth. Resurrect the urban economy and the prospects of cities will brighten.
