Seize the Time: Needed Research on Local Economic Development in an Era of Increased Attention to Problems of Place

Within the policy area of local economic development, this paper identifies five research needs: 1) better definitions of local labor markets; 2) policy know-how on how local economic development’s benefits can be spread to distressed neighborhoods; 3) evidence on what types of jobs have both good growth prospects and also provide long-run job opportunities for U.S. workers who lack a bachelor‘s degree; 4) estimates of how local worker skill-upgrading programs, or worker attraction programs, affect local labor market outcomes; and 5) more rigorous evaluation of both customized business services provided to individual firms and more comprehensive regional economic development strategies.