New DCRP Course Profile: PLAN 770 Economic Development Policy Spring 2014 T/TH 11-12:15pm Prof. Nichola Lowe [email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION How do communities support entrepreneurship and small business upgrading? Do they achieve this through individual firm support or clustering strategies that support multiple firms and enabling institutions? How do communities use business incentives to attract high growth firms that also provide community benefits? How does public support for sports stadium development result in net economic growth and quality jobs? Examining these and related questions, this course provides an introduction to state and local economic development policy and planning in the United States. Course readings and related class discussions will review specific economic development strategies and expose students to emergent and established debates on implementation and evaluation. Class activities will reveal important differences in how communities develop and implement economic development strategies and how these differences inform long-term policy reach and impact. The ultimate goal of this course is to enable students to think critically about the merits and limits of individual economic development strategies, understanding the particular conditions under which communities and community actors can engage in innovative and more equitable ways. This course is open to graduate students from any specialization or discipline and advanced undergraduate students with permission from the instructor. A FOCUSED STUDY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP This year students will have a unique opportunity to work with firm level data on entrepreneurial firms in North Carolina, both technology-intensive and those classified as social ventures. Utilizing these novel data sources, which include detailed information on firm founders, firm characteristics and a variety of institutional supports, students will develop policy-relevant case study topics that will enable them to interview and study a sub-set of entrepreneurial leaders in the Research Triangle and beyond. (Information on data sources can be found here: maryannfeldman.web.unc.edu/research-on-research-triangle/ and maryannfeldman.web.unc.edu/nc-social-innovation-survey/). Topics of interest might include: financing gaps; the changing real estate needs of entrepreneurial firms; minority entrepreneurship, including support for women or immigrant-owned businesses; strengthening the relationship between entrepreneurial firms and large anchor organizations, both private and public. Representatives from state and regional development organizations and academic institutions with policy interests in promoting regional entrepreneurship will play an advisory role. In addition, students will have an opportunity to train with the Southern Oral History Program (sohp.org/), to gain interviewing skills and to contribute a recorded oral history with an entrepreneurial founder to the SOHP collection.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 13:32:52 +0000
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