Shoot Anything that Flies; Claim Anything that Falls: Conversations with Economic Development Practitioners

Economic development practitioners face an uncertain environment in which their ability to bring about economic development is dependent upon factors over which they have little, if any, control. Using extended excerpts from open-ended interviews, the author explores how the economic development practitioners attempt to cope with uncertainty. The interviews illustrate both the frustrations practitioners feel about their work and the accommodations they make in doing their work. The author presents a speculative model, based upon Stone's work on system bias, of how the perspective toward developmental work held by the practitioner might increasingly tilt public sector actions toward the business community.