Local Development Policy Survey

Perpetual economic growth is physically impossible on a planet with finite resources. Many concerned with humanity's future have focused on the concept of "sustainable development" as an alternative, as they seek means of achieving current economic and social goals without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own goals. Sustainable development brings together elements of economics, public policy, sociology, ecology, resource management, and other related areas, and while the term has become quite popular, it is rarely defined, and even less often is it understood. A Survey of Sustainable Development addresses that problem by bringing together in a single volume the most important works on sustainable human and economic development. It offers a broad overview of the subject, and gives the reader a quick and thorough guide to this highly diffuse topic. The volume offers ten sections on topics including: economic and social dimensions of sustainable development the North/South balance population and the demographic transition agriculture and renewable resources energy and materials use globalization and corporate responsibility local and national strategies Each section is introduced with an essay by one of the volume editors that provides an overview of the subject and a summary of the mainstream literature, followed by two- to three-page abstracts of the most important articles or book chapters on the topic. A Survey of Sustainable Development is the sixth and final volume in the Frontier Issues of Economic Thought series produced by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts University. Each book brings together the most important articles and book chapters in a "frontier" area of economics where important new work is being done but has not yet been incorporated into the mainstream of economic study. The book is an essential reference for students and scholars concerned with economics, environmental studies, public policy and administration, international development, and a broad range of related fields.

First published in 1997. Part of the contemporary urban affairs series this volume looks at the local economic development policy of the United States and Canada. Laura Reese compares and analyzes local economic development efforts in Michigan and Ontario. She seeks to redress the paucity of literature comparing local economic development in the United States and Canada. Her goal is to examine and refine current theories of economic development policy-making to include the role of professional bureaucrats and to test an explanatory model which operates cross-nationally. Her study documents significant statutory differences of local economic development policies between the United States and Canada. At the same time, it shows that the similarities are greater than the differences. It is in the bureaucratic world where the differences really narrow.