Critical Evaluations of Economic Development Policies

This ground-breaking text offers alternative models for critical evaluation of the values behind and the success of local-level economic development policies.

The values that shape present-day economic development policies are often not plainly expressed. Critical Evaluations of Economic Development Policies shows how the use of nontraditional methods of evaluation can foreground the values that inform public policy and determine whether or not those values and the policies that arise from them are in the best interests of the community that adopts them. The methodology defined in this book not only provides means for judging the success or failure of economic development programs, but also offers tactics for judging how well policies address needs according to a community's own value system.

The essays in Critical Evaluations of Economic Development Policies establish critical models, illustrate how such models may be applied, and show how evaluations of a single program made from the perspectives of differing value systems lead to different conclusions about the success or failure of the program. In doing so, these essays demonstrate the crucial importance of continuing dialogue between those who make policies and those who assess them. This dynamic collection proposes to stimulate discussion among scholars, developers, and urban administrators to build awareness of the ways to foster completely informed policies and evaluate their outcomes.