Local development through the foundational economy? Priority-setting in Danish municipalities

Birgitte Nygaard and Teis Hansen

Local Economy, 2020, vol. 35, issue 8, 768-786

Abstract: The foundational economy perspective suggests that industries, which provide services essential to all citizens’ well-being and participation in everyday life, should be placed centrally in economic development policy. This article studies the extent to which local governments put emphasis on foundational industries in their strategies for development. Moreover, drivers behind priority-setting are examined. Based on an analysis of all 98 Danish municipalities’ planning strategies and semi-structured interviews with relevant actors from two rural municipalities, we find that foundational industries are to a great extent emphasised, even if they are not characterised as the foundation for economic development. Rather, foundational industries are prioritised in the absence of other options or when municipalities are not compelled to put local job creation as a crucial focus to attract and maintain inhabitants.

Keywords: agenda-setting; development policies; economic development; foundational economy; local governments; municipalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02690942211010380 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:loceco:v:35:y:2020:i:8:p:768-786

DOI: 10.1177/02690942211010380

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Local Economy from London South Bank University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().