The fully revised new edition of this textbook presents a well-balanced set of economic development financing tools and techniques focused on our current times of economic austerity. While traditional public sector techniques are evaluated and refocused, this volume emphasizes the role of the private sector and the increasing need to bring together different techniques and sources to create a workable financial development package. The chapters address critical assessments of various methods as well as practical advice on how to implement these techniques. New chapters on entrepreneurship, the changing nature of the community banking system, and the increasing need for partnerships provides critical insights into the ever-evolving practice of economic development finance.

Economist David Merriman of the University of Illinois at Chicago reviews more than 30 individual studies in the most comprehensive assessment of tax increment financing (TIF) with practical recommendations for policy makers and practitioners. The report finds that while TIF has the potential to draw investment into neglected places, it has not accomplished the goal of promoting economic development in most cases. First implemented in the 1950s, TIF funds economic development within a defined district by earmarking increases in future property tax revenues that result from increases in real estate values in the district. The tax revenue can be used for public infrastructure or to compensate private developers for their investments, but TIF is prone to several pitfalls: it often captures some revenues that would have been generated through normal appreciation in property values, it can be exploited by cities to obtain revenues that would otherwise go to overlying government entities such as school districts, and it can make cities' financial decisions less transparent by separating them from the normal budget process. The report recommends several ways that state and local policy makers can reform TIF practices going forward.

The contributors discuss alternative methods of financing state and local economic development, including the role of venture capital in urban development, the role of banking institutions in encouraging the growth of small business, and the place of pension funds in economic growth.

Improved understanding of the key role of financial aspects in the growth and development of economic systems is an important aspect of economic analysis. This first textbook on development finance provides a comprehensive coverage of this new area of economics. The book integrates relevant theoretical approaches and their policy applications. A unique perspective combines transaction cost economics and neoclassical economics. The author also treats important policy issues of national and international relevance.

This volume addresses important issues to do with access to higher education and different models of its financing in the East Asia region. It is enriched by diverse perspectives from vastly different starting points and by the historical and institutional settings in the region. The issues are set out in the context of the value of higher education in economic development and how it contributes to the capacities to adopt and adapt to new technologies and undertake institutional innovation. The established and well-functioning higher education loan and financing systems, such as those in Australia, and the experience of different systems tried - both in East Asia and in the United States - are brought to bear in this volume.