Many of those who study economic development increasingly understand the importance of economically inclusive regions.  This generally means a strong interconnection of economic activity within the region. For example, the Central Business District would be economically tied to neighborhoods within the city and the central city would be connected to outlying hinterlands.  Recently, the Brookings Institute has released a nice tool to explore the intersection of economic growth (Size of the economy), prosperity (quality of growth), and inclusion (distribution of growth):
Link to the Tool

Amazon has recently narrowed their list of prospective locations.  One of the places being considered is Montgomery County, MD.  No matter what one thinks about the prospects of attracting HQ 2.0, a very careful assessment of the short- and long-term costs and benefits, as well as the distribution of those costs and benefits should be performed.  

In a recent article with Roy Meyers, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at UMBC, we highlight this failure in the case of the economic impact assessment conducted by Sage.  

​The full article is here.

​I look forward to your thoughts and comments.