Can Economic Development and Diversification Happen With A Private Sector Core?
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it land – did it make a noise? That pondering seems to be the equivalent of trying to figure out whether economic development (or as in the case of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group -- economic diversification) happen without government making it happen? From the information that I’ve been able to find so far on the subject – you can’t get economic development if government isn’t writing out checks and looking for more ways to spend even more.
Now for full disclosure, the things that I’ve been able to find on the subject so far have been on government agency, economic development websites (as an example this 2008 State New Economy Index that was prepared by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation). This report puts a lot of stock in the “New Economy” described as “a global, entrepreneurial, and knowledge-based economy in which the keys to success lie in the extent to which knowledge, technology and innovation are embedded in products and services.” Based on their assessment in 2008, Nevada ranked in the middle (#25) using the criteria evaluations that they calculated with.
I’ve also been spending some significant time going through a policy paper that Robert E. Lang, Phd, with the Brookings Institution was one of several authors. Robert. E. Lang will be the non-voting chair for the Nevada Stakeholders Vision group and it seemed somewhat possible that this work, pertaining to the rapid change enveloping the American West might contain some ideas that the Vision Group will possibly see in greater detail. A key theme of this paper relates to the necessary new partnership that needs to be forged with the Federal government and the significant “southern Intermountain West”.
The ideas, concepts and role of government being involved in economic development needs to be better understood with a much more expansive discussion on whether central planning and public policy should be the only breath of life that matters. We need to figure out the principles of what is meant with the importance of “getting the fundamentals of economic development right, both the right theory of economic doctrine and the right operational principles.” (The 2008 State New Economy Index – Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States)
It is going to require some very heavy lifting to expand on and explore the approach to best fit Nevada’s needs, ideally based and built on a foundation of advancement of opportunities for private enterprise throughout the state.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it land – did it make a noise? That pondering seems to be the equivalent of trying to figure out whether economic development (or as in the case of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group -- economic diversification) happen without government making it happen? From the information that I’ve been able to find so far on the subject – you can’t get economic development if government isn’t writing out checks and looking for more ways to spend even more.
Now for full disclosure, the things that I’ve been able to find on the subject so far have been on government agency, economic development websites (as an example this 2008 State New Economy Index that was prepared by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation). This report puts a lot of stock in the “New Economy” described as “a global, entrepreneurial, and knowledge-based economy in which the keys to success lie in the extent to which knowledge, technology and innovation are embedded in products and services.” Based on their assessment in 2008, Nevada ranked in the middle (#25) using the criteria evaluations that they calculated with.
I’ve also been spending some significant time going through a policy paper that Robert E. Lang, Phd, with the Brookings Institution was one of several authors. Robert. E. Lang will be the non-voting chair for the Nevada Stakeholders Vision group and it seemed somewhat possible that this work, pertaining to the rapid change enveloping the American West might contain some ideas that the Vision Group will possibly see in greater detail. A key theme of this paper relates to the necessary new partnership that needs to be forged with the Federal government and the significant “southern Intermountain West”.
The ideas, concepts and role of government being involved in economic development needs to be better understood with a much more expansive discussion on whether central planning and public policy should be the only breath of life that matters. We need to figure out the principles of what is meant with the importance of “getting the fundamentals of economic development right, both the right theory of economic doctrine and the right operational principles.” (The 2008 State New Economy Index – Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States)
It is going to require some very heavy lifting to expand on and explore the approach to best fit Nevada’s needs, ideally based and built on a foundation of advancement of opportunities for private enterprise throughout the state.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 12/29/2009 5:29 PM 
Categories: Nevada Vision Project
Tags: Nevada Tax Study Nevada Economic Development Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group
Categories: Nevada Vision Project
Tags: Nevada Tax Study Nevada Economic Development Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group
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