GOSHEN — Standard economic development policies trying to lure big companies, which were put in place decades ago and still widely practiced today by local governments, are not working.
That was the message from Mike Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, to the Goshen City Council this week.
Hicks, an economics professor at Ball State, traveled from Muncie to Goshen at the invitation of Adam Scharf and Mike Orgill, two new members of the Goshen City Council. Scharf and Orgill have raised concerns about economic development policies employed in the city.
The economic development practices now common started in the 1950s with the idea that bringing in large companies would create a large number of jobs. Those practices worked when people commonly moved for jobs, Hicks said.
But the opposite has been happening over the last two decades.
“Simple, economic growth is happening primarily where people are,” Hicks said.
He believes communities should put the focus on things like enhancing quality of life and maintaining quality schools, which will draw people. More people will encourage development of service-based businesses and, little by little, jobs.