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October 1990, No. 38

There were a number of economic and political reasons that prompted state and local interest in economic development. One of the primary factors contributing to this interest was the back-to-back recessions of the early 1980s.

Last Updated: 10/26/1990

Tracking By the North Star

David Allardice

The decade of the 1980s witnessed an explosive rise in economic development efforts at the state and local level. By the end of the decade, economic development, at one time or another, had been among the top three items on most state agendas. Municipalities, both large and small, took up economic development as a major public policy initiative.