Economic development strategies for local government have gone through a number of cycles and trends in the United States since Congress in the 1930s first authorized tax-exempt bonds, legislation enacted primarily to assist southern states to attract industry. In the late 1940s, federal legislation authorized urban renewal financing as the post–World War II suburban boom created rising concerns of disinvestment and decline in the inner cities.
Early projects were focused on the elimination of blighted areas and the creation of neighborhood reinvestment through such programs as Model Cities. The decades of the 1970s and 1980s brought forward even more ambitious (and expensive!) projects centered around sports stadiums, upscale retail and festival centers, and large tax-incentive packages for corporate relocations.
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Author: Jim Woods and Christian Gibbons
