Local Economies 101（地域経済学入門）
Local governments all over the world are struggling to
promote economic development for two main reasons:
1) so that their residents can have better jobs, and
2) to create a more valuable tax base so they can
improve municipal services offered to the public.
Yet the ways in which they pursue economic development
often inadvertently undermines the long-term economic
security of the community, because they spend a lot of
time and money trying to recruit large, outside companies.
This often leads to locally owned business closures, while
at the same time the profits from the large businesses tend
to flow out of the local economy.
The resulting trends are well-known – large, big box
stores are undermining the small downtown shops.
Pressures of higher insurance rates, labor costs and
regulations, increased shipping costs, and the lack of
economies of scale send more and more small businesses
into the “failed” column every year. When this happens,
local municipalities are left with a lower revenue base,
which in turn drives up the costs of taxes, water and
sewer fees, and road maintenance for the local population.
When their low income residents can’t pay, municipal
officials have few alternatives except to discontinue
service (turn off their water, stop collecting their garbage)
or initiate tax sales on properties (sell people’s homes
and businesses for back payment of taxes).
Other troubling trends exacerbate the problem. Fewer
people are joining civic and religious organizations - the
glue holding communities together. The pervasiveness
of television and isolating entertainments like video
games and computers are undermining the social
structures that supported community life in the past.
New ideas are needed to reinvigorate the social system
and get people back out into the community, connecting
with each other and creating networks of support for
everyone.
Local communities need new ways to offer people
employment, and to pay for local services like education,
child care, health care, waste management, fireand
police protection, infrastructure, and administration.
They have unmet needs in the community for these
services, and at the same time there are underutilized
resources available that could fill the gaps. The main
barrier to matching the unmet needs with the
underutilized resources is a lack of money.
This workbook will show local leaders how to take the
matter of money into their own hands.
The authors are grateful for the support we have had from Chris
Lindstrom and the E.F. Schumacher Society.
