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In an attempt to ascertain the effectiveness of a privately driven organization, this paper will
first review the relevant literature on the efficacy of economic development programs, discuss
the methodology employed for this research, provide a background sketch of the county and the
economic development organization being studied,and finally, analyze the results and discuss the
findings.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Economic development programs have used various strategies to boost a local economy.
Some offer incentives (tax breaks, loans, and grants) in an attempt to attract new businesses or to
ensure that existing firms stay put. Other strategies seek to make a specific location more
attractive to new investment or to encourage existing businesses to expand. . (Brace, 1993;
Langer, 2001) Research concerning these programs indicates that success is problematic. Several
studies reviewed found no conclusive evidence that various financial incentives provided by
government had a positive impact on economic development. (Anderson and Wassamer, 1990;
Brace, 1993; Dye, 1980; Jones, 1990; Wink and Eller, 1998) Dewar (1998) maintains that
outside of certain cities various incentive programs have done little to promote economic growth
and that development initiatives targeted at the most depressed areas almost never have an effect.
According to Anderson and Wessmer (2000), the problem could be alleviated to some extent if
economic development programs were limited to the most distressed communities and funds
could be appropriately targeted. Why doesn’t this occur? The reason is tied to the fact that
typically most regions in a state want access to economic development funds regardless of need.
No government official wants to be accused of neglecting their district or region, hence getting
one’s fair share becomes paramount. Moreover, success comes to be measured by the amount of
money procured and not actual outcomes. (Dewar, 1998)
Convention