Some States Take the Lead: Explaining the Formation of State Technology Policies

Abstract

The focus on economic development has largely been a substantive one. Researchers have sought to determine what policies states are employing, which are most effective, and which policies work best in which types of regional economies. However, procedural questions regarding how state political and institutional arrangements affect the funding and design of these policies have been virtually ignored. This article presents results of a research project that examined the policy-making processes engaged by six states to determine the factors that contributed to the development of more or less effective state technology policy efforts. A number of policy-making factors were found to have a significant influence on the effectiveness of state technology efforts. States which relied on an "active stewardship" mode of policy making were able to develop more effective policy efforts than states which relied on the "business as usual" mode.