Tag Archives: public policy

Strategic Doing—Putting Good Plans to Work

We all hove done strategic planning. Now it’s time to try strategic doing. Ed Morrison is founder of the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab. A one-time economic development consultant, like many of us one day Ed found himself in a public … Continue reading

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The Disease that Afflicts all Modern Institutions

Repatrimonialization Modern state institutions, which are supposed to be impersonal even if not necessarily democratic, are particularly vulnerable to insider-capture in a  process that I labeled “repatrimonialization.”  As we have seen, natural human sociability is built around the twin principles … Continue reading

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Rural America is Growing—Except Where It Isn’t

The Bakken is booming.  New US Census Bureau population estimates indicate that 7 out of the dozen fastest growing counties in the United States over the last four years are in the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.  Yes, … Continue reading

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Meet Some New Friends Doing Interesting Things In Community Development

Spring is in the air.  Local citizens are coming out of their winter’s cocoons and are eager to do something.  You’re right on top of that, coaxing your friends and neighbors to stop pushing buttons (between planning and doing) and starting … Continue reading

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Strategic Doing

So you’ve got a problem. Or your community has a problem, and despite yourself you’ve found yourself on a committee to do something about it.  What do you do?  Gather the usual suspects, pour some weak coffee and bring in … Continue reading

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Chaotic and Messy > Orderly and Dumb

H/T to StrongTowns Blog for a News Digest item on a Bloomberg op-ed/ investigative/ advocacy journalism piece on my college state of Illinois.  Chuck’s commentary hits a couple hot buttons (e.g. “economic development” vs “industrial recruitment”) and, well, how much … Continue reading

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Utah: Between the Rocks, a Good Place

How does Utah Get 6.0% Unemployment? This weekend, my college buddy John Gurney (an economist by training and CPA by practice) posted some footnotes under that title on his “econscius” blog.  In short, Mr. Gurney observes: Utah’s 6.0% unemployment rate … Continue reading

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Call Goes Out for MN Broadband Task Force

Minnesota’s governor is putting the call out for the next iteration of the Minnesota broadband task force: Governor Dayton Charges Taskforce with Expanding Broadband Access Statewide August 25, 2011 Today, Governor Mark Dayton issued Executive Order 11-27, establishing the Governor’s … Continue reading

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