Find out about the new set of economic development performance measures that now reflect outcomes in the June PM cover story “State-of-the-Art Measures in Economic Development,” written by David Ammons and Jonathan Morgan, professors at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The cutting edge of economic development performance measurement shows that economic development has expanded to become much more than recruiting large manufacturing facilities or filling commercial office buildings.

The authors point out that more and more economic development officials are showing a willingness to move beyond the customary raw counts of outputs and have begun to report on outcomes—even outcomes over which they have limited control.

Economic development efforts influence outcomes; otherwise, local governments would have little reason to fund them. Having limited control might not be as desirable as having complete control, but the authors note that absence of full control over an important goal is not unique to economic development among local government programs.

To find out more about this article or to access the 2011 ICMA preliminary annual conference program that was published as part of the June PM, use this link to access the issue.