Sunday, September 20, 2015

I'm reading Michael Shuman's "The Local Economy Solution," primarily because David Duggins isn't.

The book I'm currently reading is called The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing "Pollinator" Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity, written by Michael Shuman.

In a review by John McClaughry, we learn that Shuman's book is unlikely to be perused by the likes of David Duggins.

The first thing to understand, Shuman says, is that the traditional “economic development” model of chasing after large companies with huge taxpayer subsidy deals is absolutely the wrong way to revitalize a crippled or stagnant local economy. Indeed, he says, “economic development today is creating almost no new jobs whatsoever." In support of that conclusion he methodically dissects and refutes the “eight myths of [conventional] economic development.”

There is another far more promising path. "A growing number of small, private businesses are … facilitating local planning and placemaking, nurturing local entrepreneurs, helping local consumers buy local and local investors finance local business. And most remarkably, by charging clients reasonable fees for their services, they are able to cover their costs ...

... For anyone still in thrall to showering subsidies on outside corporations in the name of “economic development,” “The Local Economy Solution” will be a game changer. Anyone eager to generate new economic life in their community or region will find this book to be a treasure chest of innovative ideas, invaluable experiences, and high motivation.

River Ridge is precisely this "economic development as usual," meaning that New Albany's single most hopeful economic development strategies in the years to come is localism. Jeff Gahan has had little to say abut economic development. Perhaps that's because he hasn't done any.

2 comments:

w&la said...

I'll say it again - if Indatus had had access to real high-speed internet service and been encouraged to expand in New Albany, then the investment by out of town businesses, the spin-off businesses, and the growth heralded by the White House would have happened here, not in Louisville.

New Albany lost a great deal when they let that business go…

How many businesses have been sought out and encouraged to move here in the past twelve years?

ecology warrior said...

Build a swimming pool and they will come.