Sunday, April 30, 2006
Last week saw the passing of both Jane Jacobs and John Kenneth Galbraith.
Both writers shaped the popular debate about economic development. They opened the doors of economics to general audiences. Jacobs operated on the level of cities and regions, while Galbraith painted on a bigger canvas of national policy.
Neither writer was embraced by the mainstream economics profession, but that lack of recognition is probably to their credit. As the joke goes, "An economist is someone who is good with numbers but does not have the personality to be an accountant."
Too often, as Charles Wheelan writes in his useful book, Naked Economics, economists fall victim to opaque writing, inscrutable diagrams, and an excessive reliance on mathematics. They also do not often admit what they do not know. (While at Case, I ran into one economist -- a specialist in entrepreneurship, no less -- who did not know how to prepare a budget for a simple speaker's program...and he was unwilling to admit that he did not know.)
Both Jacobs and Galbraith were clear writers and iconoclastic thinkers. Read more about Jacobs. Read more about Galbraith.
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Jane Jacobs and John Kenneth Galbraith
