What the Heck is that?
I am an Economic Developer by trade. Economic Development has been a buzz phrase ever since the great recession and even more of buzz phrase since "The Donald" has taken office and is promising to make america great again through industry. The massive layoffs of jobs and economic crash made economic development for the first time, very popular. The first question I get when I tell people that I am in Economic Development is, "whats that? " Which in all honesty is not that easy of an answer.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting a series on "Economic Development Explained" and dive deeper into what the industry is really about and how it really works.
The first thing to know, is that economic development is NOT Economics. Nothing to do with it. I an not an economist and I would shoot myself in the head if had to do that stuff. Your typical economic developer is in fact someone that happened into the profession. I myself started out as a graphic designer turned casino manager turned economic developer. We come from all walks of life to do what we do and in many cases, the more diverse the background, the better the job you can do.
SO WHAT IS IT ALREADY?!
PART I: Economic Development Simplified
Lets jump in. Here is a typical info graphic you might see if you google Economic Development.
This graphic shows you that its a combination of land (by acquisition, or development), Labor (job creation) and capital investment create economic development. This is the textbook definition of economic development and while on the surface it is accurate, it only represents about one-third of what economic development really is.
There are multiple levels of economic development, which we will explore, but think of economic development like fuel and oil in an engine. We seek out the fuel that keeps an engine running and once we have the engine running, we act as oil to keep it running smooth. And that engine is, depending on the level you work at, the Nation, the state you live in, the region you live in, down to the city you call home.
Economic Development is broken down into 4 different catagories
- Federal Development
- State Economic Development
- Regional/ Metro Economic Development
- Local/ City Economic Development
In each of the 4 levels of economic development, you will see a different focus on what is important but they all share the common goal of creating a better quality of life and stronger economy. Vague I know, but we will dive deeper into what that means later.
Back to the diagram, the investment of capital to acquire land to create jobs is the FUEL that economic developers create to boost the economy. The OIL is the aftercare and the assistance that economic developers provide on the back end to existing industry to help them grow and expand. A whole other world that we will go through as well.
So in other term, economic development is the sales and support system for an economy. We seek to sell our product, USA or STATE OF VIRGINIA or LANDOUN COUNTY or CITY OF ARLINGTON (for example) for investment from corporate america or foreign direct investment, to increase corporate property tax revenue, to create jobs, to give people income, to use that income in our local economy.
The economic developers then SUPPORT that business in different capacities to make sure that they remain an economic engine and grow to repeat the process all over again. Support comes in many different forms. Whether its workforce assistance programs to hep the business to find quality workforce or training program to community outreach to help relocated or new employees get acclimated into the community, we provide many different assistance programs to businesses.
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
WHEW! That's alot to take in. BEtter we break it out in little bits from here. Keep checking back on my blog to see the upcoming parts to "Economic Development Explained"
COMING SOON.
PART 2: The 4 levels of Economic Development - Overview
PART 2.1: Federal Economic Development
PART 2.2 : State Economic Development
PART 2.3: Regional Economic Development
PART 2.4: Local Economic Development
PART 3: Why we give $$$ - Understanding Incentives
- More to come!
Comments and Questions Welcome!!