ABSTRACT
The concepts of local economic growth and local economic development are confused for one another. Furthermore, in efforts to distinguish the two, the literature has frequently over-simplified the manner in which they vary. Growth and development have one thing in common: they both mean very different things in the contexts of different locations. A general consensus can be drawn that growth is a more quantitative consideration whereas development has a qualitative component as well. Consideration of economic growth on the national level has often been attacked by those who consider the practice to be destructive of communities. Economic development has greater impacts on a community than does simple economic growth. Incomes tend to be greater, generating greater spending in the secondary and tertiary markets and yielding greater tax revenues. Herrick and Kindleberger concluded that "Development goes beyond growth to include change in the composition of outputs and the relative sizes of the contribution of the various inputs to the production process."
