Seize the Time: Needed Research on Local Economic Development in an Era of Increased Attention to Problems of Place

Abstract

Within the policy area of local economic development, this paper identifies five research needs: 1) better definitions of local labor markets; 2) policy know-how on how local economic development’s benefits can be spread to distressed neighborhoods; 3) evidence on what types of jobs have both good growth prospects and also provide long-run job opportunities for U.S. workers who lack a bachelor‘s degree; 4) estimates of how local worker skill-upgrading programs, or worker attraction programs, affect local labor market outcomes; and 5) more rigorous evaluation of both customized business services provided to individual firms and more comprehensive regional economic development strategies.