Is Local Authority Economic Intervention

Abstract

In the past decade, local authorities have become increasingly involved in the development of policies to alleviate the effects of economic decline. In this paper, the authors' primary objective is to determine,the extent to which these policies are being evaluated. They also consider the ways in which evaluation is caried out and the problems associated with this.Most local authorities claim to be involved in some form of evaluation. However, the evidence tends to suggest that little more than monitoring takes place. It seems that the desire to be seen to be doing something to ameliorate the impact of the recession is perhaps more important than the actual effectiveness of local authority economic intervention.

Venture Creators and Firm Buyers: A Comparison of Attitudes Towards Government Help and Locus of Control

“…However, the locus, of control results indicate that, among our sample, entrepreneurs who resort to government help tend to display a rather low internal locus of control attitude, which contradicts one of the assumptions coming from past research about entrepreneurs. This suggests a possible need for program packages that would include some form of counselling aimed at helping entrepreneurs to feel more in control of their own future, as well as a need for civil servants trained on how to respond specifically to entrepreneurial needs (10).…”