Gary P. Green

Promoting Economic Development A Comparison of Central Cities, Suburbs, and Nonmetropolitan Communities

The authors use survey and census data to compare the economic development policies of central cities, suburbs, and nonmetropolitan communities. Regional competition is strongly associated with the number of development programs adopted by all three types of communities, but several important differences exist among them. Central-city governments are most active in promoting development, with population size exerting a positive influence on development activities. For suburbs, the poverty rate is positively related to development effort. In nonmetropolitan communities, involvement by the city government in economic development exhibits a strong positive relationship with the number of development programs adopted.

Localizing Linkages for Food and Tourism: Culinary Tourism as a Community Development Strategy

The local food movement is taking a variety of forms—including farm-to-school programs, farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and direct marketing. An emerging component of this movement is culinary tourism. Culinary tourism offers new opportunities for communities to integrate tourism and local food systems in order to promote economic development, respond to the demand for quality food and dining experiences, and build on the cultural heritage of the region. This paper examines culinary tourism through a case study of the Kingdom So Delicious program in Door County, Wisconsin. This analysis is based on intensive interviews with owners/managers of four restaurants and surveys of 30 retailers and 40 farmers in the region. Retail establishments relied heavily on local produce, largely due to a commitment to help local producers. Farmers frequently combined marketing fresh food to local retail establishments with sales to wholesalers. The most frequently cited concerns with producing for local establishments involved in culinary tourism were low prices and challenging logistics. The lessons of this study are not limited to Door County but can be applied to other, similar communities seeking to strengthen culinary tourism.

Forest dependence and community well-being: a segmented market approach

Forestry activities, such as timber production and processing, are important economic activities in many rural communities. Yet the research on the relationship between forest dependence and community economic well‐being is inconclusive. This article examines the relationship between forest dependence and county per capita income and poverty in rural Georgia. Forest dependence is conceptualized according to Averitts theory of the dual economy. Core dependence, in other words, dependence on well‐capitalized, pulp and paper firms, is expected to affect county‐level economic well‐being differently than dependence on periphery forest industry or high timberland concentrations. Regression analyses show that core forest industries are positively related to county per capita income, while periphery industries have no significant effect and timberland concentration is negatively related to per capita income and positively related to the poverty rate.

Local Self-Development Strategies: National Survey Results.

This paper evaluates local self-development strategies among nonmetropolitan communities. It analyzes the characteristics of these projects, their benefits and costs, and the obstacles facing self-development communities. Based on a survey of more than one hundred communities, it was found that most self-development projects in the 1980s were initiated because of the depressed rural economy. Self-development efforts do not appear to replace traditional rural economic development activities; instead, they appear to complement them. Self-development activities produce a wide variety of jobs that are taken primarily by local residents. Informants reported that the cost and availability of credit are major obstacles for self-development projects. In terms of benefits, local business/industrial development projects tend to produce the most jobs and to produce them at the least cost.

Organizing Local Agencies to Promote Economic Development

Significant changes over the past two decades have intensified efforts by American cities to promote economic development. Yet, researchers and policymakers generally have ignored the extent to which communities differ in their economic development strategies. This article extends previous research with an examination of the variation in the way cities organize their bureaucracies to promote economic development. Findings indicate that larger cities and those with a wide range of economic development programs and higher property tax burdens are most likely to have a separate department for promoting development. Moreover, in cities that are more dependent upon manufacturing, local governments avoid leaving economic development in the hands of existing line departments. The results suggest that in smaller communities, officials may be unwilling or unable to centralize their development efforts, and in larger and more economically vulnerable cities, separate agencies may be used to resolve coordination problems, make growth a more visible issue, and overcome bureaucratic inertia in development programs.

Soil erosion and perception of the problem

Abstract Most efforts to reduce soil erosion have included an educational component designed to make farmers aware of their erosion problem. These strategies implicitly assume that once farmers become aware of an erosion problem, they will take appropriate action. It is recognized that various social and economic factors influence the adoption process at a later stage, but their influence on perception of the problem has not been explored. This analysis indicates that perception of a soil erosion problem may be influenced more by social and economic factors than by the actual extent of the problem. Perception of environmental problems, therefore, is based not only on awareness, but also on the ability to do something about the problem. Therefore, structural constraints influence both the adoption of conservation practices and perception of an environmental problem. It is suggested that if an effective soil conservation program is to be developed, we must understand the unique problems, interests, and goals of farmers.

Recreational housing and local government finance.

Abstract One of the important aspects of community development planning for tourism involves the assessment of benefits and costs associated with touristic activities to local units of government. The primary objective of this study was to identify the impact of recreational housing development on the financial position of local governments within a rural setting. Using census data for Wisconsin counties, a “holistic” type model of fiscal impact is specified and estimated. Results suggest that recreational housing development just pays for itself in terms of the ability of local governments to generate revenues when compared to the demands placed on services, as measured by expenditures.

Local Growth Promotion: Policy Adoption versus Effort

Previous research has shown that both structural and political/organizational factors affect growth promotion. Most of these studies have neither distinguished between policy adoption and growth effort nor considered the possibility that the processes contributing to policy adoption may be different from those influencing the level of incentives used to promote growth. Based on data from local government officials in Wisconsin cities and villages, we find that structural, or economic, and political organizational factors affect economic development activity adoption to a significantly different extent and in significantly different ways. Both the adoption of activities and the level of effort expended are influenced by a communitys economic structure. Political/organizational factors are more likely to influence adoption of policies than is the effort communities make at promoting growth. The results suggest that growth effort is influenced strongly by economic factors, and that policy adoption has a symbolic value that addresses political concerns.

Local and Regional Economic Development Planning and the Role of Community Development Practitioners

Changing national and international economies have altered local options for economic development. Traditional industrial economic development efforts offer limited opportunity as a growth strategy. Rural communities, especially, face economic difficulties because of a downturn in agriculture and the migration of manufacturing to low-wage, off-shore markets. This paper presents the results of a regional planning district commission survey that suggests local and regional governments are not responding to the changing economic options with broad-based development strategies. While some commissions are involved in traditional industrial recruitment activities, few are involved with strategies that recognize and build on local and regional strengths for alternative types of economic growth. The paper also discusses the role of community development practitioners in promoting broad-based local and regional economic development.

Embeddedness and capital markets: Bank financing of businesses

Abstract The article examines the social and economic dimensions of capital markets, particularly the effects of bank and capital market structure; lending criteria and bank policies; and demand for credit, on bank financing of businesses. A critical problem in most capital markets is that lenders have inadequate information to assess the risk and creditworthiness of loan applicants. We find that many bankers continue to use assessments of character as a signal of the potential borrowers creditworthiness. Banking deregulation limits the range of signals available to lenders and therefore may have detrimental consequences for banks and local economies.