The New & Improved Journal

 We are trying to close a gap involving the economic developer in the field, a professional with limited time but badly needing more background and understanding of economic development topics and concepts outside his/her original academic background or professional training.

YET

unable to spend the time and effort to discover, tackle and master windy 350 page, obscure theoretical, jargon-laden, statistical, and equation-filled academic books or obscure and obtuse academic articles repleat with pages and pages of incomprehensible methodologies and footnotes understandable only to Nobel prize laurets.

LET THE CURMUDGEON DO THE SEARCHING, FINDING THOSE ARTICLES AND BOOKS THAT, BASED ON HIS SEVERAL DECADES EXPERIENCE IN LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, OFFER INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING

LET HIM WADE THROUGH THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY AND KEEP YOU POSTED ON STUFF YOU THAT OUGHT TO BE AWARE OF–BUT DON’T HAVE THE TIME OR BACKGROUND TO GRAPPLE WITH

LET HIM SORT THROUGH THE “STUFF” AND SUMMARIZE WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW–AND CRITIQUE IT SO THAT YOU CAN BETTER APPRECIATE ITS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, AND ALSO MAKE YOU AWARE OF THE IMPORTANT STUFF IN THE FINE PRINT AND FOOTNOTES THAT THE AUTHOR DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT, THE HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS AND THE UNDERLYING, OFTEN POLITICAL/ACADEMIC IDEOLOGY, RATIONALE THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT.

ALL IN  ABOUT TEN, VERY MUCH READABLE PAGES

Our audience is the Economic Development professional employed in/observer of sub-state (regional, county, municipality, downtown or neighborhood) or whose job or firm is closely interconnected with sub-state economic development (for instance, state, academic, think tank/research and consultant economic developers).

Why the gap?

Economic Development can be a bit unusual, if not an outright strange profession. All sorts of people, with all sorts of professional training, academic background, and career experience wander in an out of economic development on a regular basis. These professionals run programs ranging from Abatements to Zones for enterprises or foreign trade–and everything in between. Finance, Real Estate, Property and Urban Redevelopment, Worker Training, Venture Capital and entrepreneurship, bond issuance, TIF, Revolving Loan Funds and MUCH MORE! Our typical reader manages/creates programs, makes public policy, answers to politicians, businesspeople, media, and voters, helps firms and workers to compete– and more than anything, answers questions why or why not their communities are growing or declining.

But the frank reality is that we economic developers at best are only partially trained for the wide variety of things we do, questions we must answer, and serious responsibilities placed in our trust.

AND THAT IS THE GAP WE WANT TO CLOSE.

Economic Developers trained in Finance or Real Estate, Business, Engineers, Data Monkeys and Methodologists must understand politics, public policy and operating in a government-dominated environment–the street level realities. Public policy, political scientists, planners, and social scientists must grapple with macro, micro, industry, cluster and regional economics. Academics and Think-Tank/Research Data and Policy Wonks must reach outside their theoretical baliwicks and walk in the shoes of those they seek to help and understant. THIS IS OUR READER.

HOW DO WE HELP CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN PAST TRAINING/EXPERIENCE AND ACTUAL JOB REQUIREMENTS?

By summarizing a wide variety of key, innovating and path-setting Books and Articles relevant to your wide-ranging responsibilities.

By trying to be ideologically and politically neutral–and skeptical. Trying to give you the information and background you need  WITH AS LITTLE BAGGAGE AS POSSIBLE

With a writing style which is informal, even humorous (if you have a weird sense of humor) and with a minimum of carefully defined jargon

Offered by a Economic Development professional, THE ED CURMUDGEON, with decades of in the street economic development experience matched by decades of Collegiate/Graduate Teaching and a PhD in academic disciplines relevant to economic development.

IS THE JOURNAL FOR YOU?

Probably NOT– if you want a quick read in a couple of pages.

Probably NOT– if you want a blog with magic bullets, one size fits all answers and plays with your emotions and politics.

Probably NOT– if you already know everything and never need to rise above your personal perspective, beliefs, or experience.

Probably NOT– if you really don’t want to have a better grasp of the strategies, program and policy dynamics, and the values which lie beneath the surface of regionalism, clusters, tax abatement, redevelopement, innovation, and community/economic revitalization.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL READING – WELCOME

YOU ARE OUR READER

CLICK ON AND LET’S EXPLORE THE PROFESSION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOGETHER