Balancing Act: Economic Theory Weighs in with Social and Political Interests
Tamma J. Burningham, Jacoba E. Larsen, Melvin Paredes, Sandra Reategui, Angela Redding, Carolina Salas Garcia, Hannes Schenk and Jason R. Whitehead used their Rural and Community Economic Development classtime to debrief. These students, along with their facilitator, Professor Chris Fawson, worked on an Economic Development Plan for the City of Logan. During class, they shared and processed their experiences and reasoned through the problems that arose in completing the project.
The assignment came about as a result of Professor Fawson’s seat on the Logan City Financial Advisory Board. When a discussion took place about economic development strategy and how it fiscally impacts the city, the board decided they needed some guidance and Professor Fawson saw an opportunity that would benefit both the needs of the advisory board and his students.
The classmates had direct contact with the mayor, the director of economic development, the director of finance and members of the city council. Through a series of interviews, research and much classroom discussion, they were able to develop a plan that Dean Anderson notes as "an impressive piece of work . . . a great example of what our students are capable of."
Professor Fawson reports that the students who participated in the project were excited about the chance to apply their economic expertise to help the city recognize opportunities to meet their economic development objectives. While the economic development office was using a systematic process to review business development incentive proposals, they struggled with effective systems of accountability to make sure that the businesses fulfilled their end of the agreement. "I didn’t realize how important this issue of accountability was before doing this project," said Jacoba Larsen.
The students came to the project with an idealized view of economic development and its implementation and ended up realizing they were confronted with complex problems, such as the need for political trade-offs and not being able to please everyone involved. The question of whose values control the broader public interest in a business development strategy arose on more than one occasion. The outcome of the project, in addition to the actual plan, presented a general understanding of how various interests in a community need to be balanced within the structure of local economic realities. This brought into stark relief the reality that in matters of local economic development there aren’t any simple solutions. But there are pragmatic solutions when the community’s economic development strategy is grounded in sound economic principles, a commitment to transparency and an administrative process that ensures accountability for scarce public resources.
Angela Redding summarized the experience by saying, "I learned so much more in the midst of a real life example than I would have reading about it in a textbook."