Provides a comprehensive look at local economic development and public policy, placing special emphasis on quality of life and sustainability. It draws extensively on case studies, and includes both mainstream and alternative perspectives in dealing with economic growth and development issues. The contributions of economic theories and empirical research to the policy debates, and the relationship of both to quality of life and sustainability are explored and clarified.

The fully revised new edition of this textbook presents a well-balanced set of economic development financing tools and techniques focused on our current times of economic austerity. While traditional public sector techniques are evaluated and refocused, this volume emphasizes the role of the private sector and the increasing need to bring together different techniques and sources to create a workable financial development package. The chapters address critical assessments of various methods as well as practical advice on how to implement these techniques. New chapters on entrepreneurship, the changing nature of the community banking system, and the increasing need for partnerships provides critical insights into the ever-evolving practice of economic development finance.

14. International Business and Multinational Corporations in China -- 15. Taiwan' s Recent Economy and Business Environment -- 16. Opportunities and Challenges for Hong Kong in the New Millennium -- Editors and Contributors -- Index

Innovation, skills, entrepreneurship and social cohesion are key drivers of growth. Each has a strong governance component, which is analysed in this OECD book.

Comprises a collection of 26 futurist essays.

This textbook is concerned with economic development at the local, community or regional scale. Its aim is to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to contemporary thinking about locally based economic development, how growth can be planned and how that development can be realized. This book: • Provides students with a thorough understanding of current debates around local and regional development and how that body of work can assist them in helping communities grow; • Equips students with a ‘toolkit’ of strategies that enable them to both plan for development and deliver that development through their professional lives; • Offers a roadmap for economic development that helps students make sense of place-based development by providing a ‘meta narrative’ of how regions grow and how those processes can be enhanced. This integrating perspective will be organized around the concept of competitiveness and how that concept can be understood and operationalized in various ways; • Aims to improve the performance of economic development agencies by providing current and future staff with a better set of strategies that are more appropriate to their needs; • Socializes students into the world of economic development planning, providing them with an entry point into a rewarding career; • Introduces students to a range of techniques essential to success in economic development planning. In addition to a wealth of case studies and pedagogical features, the book is also complemented by online resources. In offering a full toolkit of economic development knowledge, techniques and strategies, this text will thoroughly prepare students for a career in urban planning, transport planning, human geography, applied economic analysis, geographic information systems, and/or work as an economic development practitioner.

Economic challenges in developing Asian countries have become more complex: urban populations are growing at great cost to the environment, climate change has increased risks of natural disasters, and income gaps within and between developing countries are widening. These factors threaten the sustainable growth and development of urban areas, the drivers of Asia's economy. A strategic approach for inclusive growth is needed. The City Cluster Economic Development approach provides a strategic framework and a set of analytical tools, which governments, businesses, and communities can use to support the inclusive and sustainable development of competitive urban economies in Asia. Said approach was developed and tested by the Asian Development Bank to improve the basis for integrated planning and development of urban regions in Asia and the Pacific. It also elps urban managers and other city stakeholders identify action plans and determine priority investment areas.

Known as the standard reference for international economic data, the twenty-second annual edition of the World Development Report provides a set of Selected World Development Indicators as an appendix, presenting social and economic statistics for more than 200 countries.

This book offers insights into the process and the practice of local economic development. Bridging the gap between theory and practice it demonstrates the relevance of theory to inform local strategic planning in the context of widespread disparities in regional economic performance. The book summarizes the core theories of economic development, applies each of these to professional practice, and provides detailed commentary on them. This updated second edition includes more recent contributions - regional innovation, agglomeration and dynamic theories – and presents the major ideas that inform economic development strategic planning, particularly in the United States and Canada. The text offers theoretical insights that help explain why some regions thrive while others languish and why metropolitan economies often rise and fall over time. Without theory, economic developers can only do what is politically feasible. This text, however, provides them with a logical tool for thinking about development and establishing an independent basis from which to build the local consensus needed for evidence-based action undertaken in the public interest. Offering valuable perspectives on both the process and the practice of local and regional economic development, this book will be useful for both current and future economic developers to think more profoundly and confidently about their local economy.