Who is the money in your neighborhood? An examination of the impact of economic development policies on city civic and political life

Concerns about increasing productivity by attracting new jobs and money have led to an explosion of economic development activities. Yet with all of this attention to local economic development, local elected officials have become myopic about its impact. Community life is the product of social, economic and political forces that arise as communities compete for economic growth. In this sense, economic development and the growth that it does or does not create comes to define the political and social, as well as the economic essence of a community. While the choice of an economic development strategy is influenced by political and social factors, so too do economic factors influence social and political characteristics.;This dissertation addresses this question: Do differing economic development strategies lead to occupationally different communities that manifest differing social and political characteristics? Consequently, this dissertation focuses on the use of four models of economic development and their impact on a wide range of aggregate social and political characteristics. Specifically, it examines how the use economic development leads to changing levels of political knowledge, community social capital, and civic and political participation.