Local economic development: changing the parameters?

Abstract

Abstract Based on an examination of recent thinking on the determinants of, and approaches to, local economic development the paper proposed a revised set of parameters within which to examine and evaluate this phenomenon. The paper constructs a comparative analysis of three approaches to local economic development (LED), enterprise culture, industrial districts and innovative milieu, within a set of focused criteria drawn from the literature on endogenous development. This analysis suggests a more generalist approach to local economic development that highlights the importance of understanding the evolution of a development ethos, entrepreneurial relations and the scope for non-local actor participation as key aspects of this development process. Keywords: local economic developmententerprise cultureindustrial districtsinnovative milieudevelopment ethos