Local Economic Development in the 1980s and 1990s: Retrospect and Prospects

Abstract

The authors suggest that local economic development in the 1990s is facing a very different economic and political context from that of the 1970s and 1980s, and that this requires the development of very different paradigms and strategies. In particular, they argue that the transition from a Fordist to a post-Fordist economy, and the process of economic and political integration in the European Community confront local economic development agencies with a fundamentally new set of challenges in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This also means that the focus of comparative study of local economic development needs to be shifted to recognize the European context within which British localities increasingly operate.