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This I Believe
About Economic Development
Economic Development Lunch -
Greater Georgetown Chamber of Commerce
February 1, 2023
Troy Mix
Associate Director, Institute for Public Administration
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1 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Agenda
• Who am I?
• What do I believe about economic development?
• How does the Institute for Public Administration (IPA) serve Delaware?
• How can you engage with me and IPA?
• Discussion: Economic development trends + opportunities
• Discussion: How could IPA serve your community’s needs?

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
What I do and think about
Lead Regional Development @ IPA
● Transportation Policy + Planning
● Economic Development
● Capacity Building
● Grant Assistance Program
Teach “Innovation in the Public Sector”
Host First State Insights podcast
How should Delaware engage?
• Freight/logistics
• Remote work
• Industrial policy
• Infrastructure opportunities
Seeking to help places
engage the future
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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Why Me?
Oh, The Places I’ve Lived
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Witness to Global
Forces Playing Out
Locally, Over Time

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
What do I believe about economic development?
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5 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Definitions and goals matter
Economic Growth
Quantitative increase
More jobs; Higher incomes; More people; More office space
Economic development
Qualitative improvement
Enhanced workforce capabilities
Higher educational attainment
Happier, healthier, more prosperous residents

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6 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
My preferred definition of
economic development
“intersection of public policy and private commerce for
job and wealth creation.”
Jesse White, former federal co-chair, Appalachian Regional
Commission and former director, Office of Economic and Business
Development. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Growth
Income Change
Population Change
New Businesses
Tax Revenue
Prosperity
Low poverty rate
Low unemployment rate
High HS completion rate
Low problem housing rate
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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
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Is prosperity
synonymous
with growth?

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Individuals learn, work,
enterprise, and innovate.
People + Place Matter
But: “Intergenerational mobility varies
substantially across areas. For example,
the probability that a child reaches the
top quintile of the national income
distribution starting from a family in the
bottom quintile is 4.4% in Charlotte but
12.9% in San Jose. The spatial variation in
intergenerational mobility is strongly
correlated with five factors: residential
segregation, income inequality, school
quality, social capital, and family
structure.”
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Chetty, Raj, et al. "Where is the land of opportunity? The geography of
intergenerational mobility in the United States." The Quarterly Journal
of Economics 129.4 (2014): 1553-1623.

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Economic Development Is a Tool to Address Real Material Needs
Our Choice:
Play Gotcha Politics, or
Get Serious About
Grievances?
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11 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
I believe…
Regions are all a little captured by what made them
successful…
– Now, recently, or some time long ago
The history of the most captured places suggests…
– Conscious investment is necessary during good times
– Otherwise, you could be trapped

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13 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
What does your community’s
investment portfolio look like?
In the past?
Now?
In the future?

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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
How does IPA serve Delaware?
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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
IPA Convenes, Analyzes, and Implements
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Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Serving the Public Good,
Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders
The Institute for Public
Administration (IPA) is a public
service, education, and research
center within the Biden School
focused on linking the resource
capacities of the University of
Delaware to the complex needs of
governments, nonprofits, and the
business community.
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Focus areas include:
• Regional Development +
Planning
• Transportation
• Education
• Organizational Development
• Water
• Health
Celebrating 50 years of service in 2023!

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Regional Development @ IPA
Helping governments, regional
organizations, and community groups to
shape their futures by supporting efforts
to plan for changing economic,
demographic, and development forces
– Planning Services
– Economic Development Research
and Policy Analysis
– Capacity Development

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18 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Convening for Regional Development

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19 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Analyzing for Regional Development

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Implementing for Regional Development

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21 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Implementing for Regional Development
The Grant Assistance Program (GAP) is a state-funded initiative that provides
free technical grant assistance to local governments for infrastructure
initiatives and other competitive and formula grant opportunities.
While we work with all local governments in Delaware, outreach and support
are especially focused on local governments that typically lack the resources
and capacity to compete for large-scale infrastructure funding opportunities
including rural or underserved communities.
Know a local government who may benefit from GAP’s services? Encourage
them to email ipa-grants@udel.edu

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Engaging with IPA and Me
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Listen to, Subscribe to +
Suggest Content for
First State Insights
Tune to First State Insights for information, perspectives,
and analysis on public policy, management, and
community and economic development in Delaware. Find
all (85+) episodes at soundcloud.com/first-state-insights
or search for “First State Insights” wherever you get
podcasts

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24 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Subscribe to First State
Economic Development
News + Notes
A weekly digest of news, events,
and resources for Delaware's
economic development
community.
firststateecondev.substack.com

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Help us Launch the Next 50 years of IPA
Imagine if IPA made economic prosperity in
southern Delaware a focus of its second 50
years–what would that look like, and what would
have to happen?

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Economic Development Trends + Opportunities: In Brief
Reshoring + Nearshoring
“The pro-free-trade consensus is dead.”
Infrastructure Investments
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law + Inflation Reduction Act
Continued Digitization
AI, E-Commerce, Virtual + Augmented Reality
Place-Based Development
“The CHIPS and Science Act offers funding for place-based policies
unparalleled in U.S. history”
Remote Work
Since 2020, about 5 million have already moved because of remote work

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27 Institute for Public Administration www.ipa.udel.edu
Troy Mix
Associate Director, Institute for Public Administration
Biden School of Public Policy & Administration
mix@udel.edu
www.ipa.udel.edu