What is Economic Development?

Economic development means different things to different people. On a broad scale, it is anything a community does to foster and create a healthy economy.  From a public perspective, local economic development involves the allocation of limited resources - land, labor, capitol and entrepreneurship in a way that has a positive effect on the level of business activity, employment, income distribution patterns, and fiscal solvency.

It is a process of deliberate intervention in the normal economic growth by making it easier or more attractive.  It is a concerted effort on the part of the responsible governing body in a city or county to influence the direction of private sector investment toward opportunities that can lead to sustained economic growth. Sustained economic growth can provide sufficient incomes for the local labor force, profitable business opportunities for employers and tax revenues for maintaining an infrastructure to support this continued growth.

It is important to know that economic development is not community development. Community development is a process for making a community a better place to live and work. There are three approaches used to enhance local economic development.

• Business Retention and Expansion - enhancing existing businesses
• Business Expansion - attracting new business
• Business Start-ups - encouraging the growth of new businesses