ATTITUDINAL EFFECTS OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Using data from a national mail survey, opinions on the local economic development process held by economic development practitioners working for a city, chamber of commerce and public-private agencies are compared. The data show that public-private agency officials bridge the gap between the perspectives held by chamber government officials. Economic develop- ment practitioners working for public-private agencies have more respect for both governmental employees and business people than do other economic development practitioners. They feel that it is possible to gain more control over the economic development process than do their business or governmental counterparts. And, they indicate the advantages for the local community of maintaining such control; for example, being better able to stop businesses from whipsawing disorganized communities into making unnecessary concessions. Copyright 1990 by The Policy Studies Organization.

THE AMERICAN STATES AND THE SHIFTING LOCUS OF POSITIVE ECONOMIC INTERVENTION

While there has been a turn away from positive government intervention in the economy at the national level, we have witnessed an embrace of this strategy in may of the American states. What impact, if any, have these efforts by state governments had on their economies? The paper focuses on variations in party control, competition, and ideology, the institutional capacities of governors and legislatures, and policy measures, while controlling for a variety of alternative influences on state economies. For the period from 1968-1979 states were dominated by the national economy and other forces over which they had little or no control, and thus had little or no effect on their economies. However, for the 1980-1985 period, party, political capacity, and policy exerted a statistically significant influence on state economic performance. Copyright 1990 by The Policy Studies Organization.