Understanding the Adoption and Timing of Economic Development Strategies in US Cities Using Innovation and Institutional Analysis

Local governments in the United States have adopted a variety of economic development tools and strategies to revitalize and compete. This research considers two questions. First, what factors influenced early and late adopters of strategic economic development policy tools, and second, how are the factors that influence policy adoption in the latter period of time different from the factors that influence early adoption? The article develops a framework developed from literatures in strategic management, institutional analysis, and policy innovation to develop hypotheses which are tested with local government data from 1999 to 2004. The study finds strong support for the role of community attributes, internal capacity, and formal institutions as contributors for adoption of economic development tools, with stronger influence on adoption of some in 1999 than in 2004, and the factors in 1999 are different from the later adopters in 2004, especially with regard to form of government