How do counties arrange their organizations to promote economic development? Almost no information is available on administrative structures for economic development and how they change, particularly for counties. The results of this 2009 survey show that 16.0% of counties examined had shifted placement of the department for economic development in their governmental structure since 1999. Also, 17.5% of counties had experienced change in the most active organization supporting economic development in the county. Economic development within the executive and a separate department type are dominant in internal structures for county governments, and public organizations instead of public–private organizations are primarily responsible for implementing county economic development activities in the counties. In addition, counties located in urban areas and prodevelopment interests, environmental interests, and intergovernmental networks are related with changes in the two organizational dimensions.
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