Testing Competing Explanations for the Adoption of Type II Policies

Abstract

The author examines the ability of city leaders to exert influence over the structure of development within their city's borders, particularly heeding the notion that cities are captive to mobile capital. He examines the adoption of Type II developmental strategies: policies that allocate the costs of development more equitably between cities and mobile capital. Using a national survey of directors of chambers of commerce, the author tests a number of hypotheses relating to the adoption of Type II developmental strategies. The analysis both supports conventional wisdom and provides new insight into the more politicized nature of Type II developmental strategies.