Public private partnerships for local economic development and their impact on poverty and inequality. Draft of supporting material.
Abstract
In the attempt to reduce poverty in the developing world, an increasing emphasis is being placed on local government and on the establishment of public-private partnerships to generate economic development. In many cases these partnerships are being imported from the USA and UK. This draft sets out the theoretical basis and historical context of six LED partnership approaches under three broad headings. First, traditional approaches, which emerged in the 'privatism' of North American cities in the post-war period, based on neo-classical economic theories of industrial location and urban land markets. Second, entrepreneurial approaches, based largely on the same neo-classical theory, but which attempt to ride the tide of economic restructuring associated with the recession and deindustrialisation of the 1970s, in order to ensure 'smarter' growth, or in some cases 'pro-poor' growth. Third, equity-based approaches, which are sceptical about the possibility of improving the quality of life of the poor without increasing their power (directly or through the state) to regulate the urban system. Empirical evidence which exists to support or refute the effectiveness of the various approaches in practice is assessed based on fieldwork in Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston and Newark as well as cases studied in the literature.
Citation
DFID, London, UK, 57 pp.
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