State and local economic development tools : how does the range of state-level economic development tools available to a locality influence the way local resources are deployed?

Abstract

Patterns in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) expenditures for economic development in selected states were analyzed to explore whether differences in economic development tools, policies and programs available at the state level influence the deployment of economic development tools at the local level, and if so, how. Though CDBG is a federal government program, because grant fund programming is largely at the discretion of local decision-makers, and consistent expenditure data is available for entitlement communities across the country.