Introduction -- The importance of everything but oil -- A theory about oil, policymakers, and the business environment -- Oil and the business environment in Iran -- Doing business in India's mining belt -- Reform in the Gulf Arab context: Saudi Arabia since the 1990s -- Conclusion

Higher education and economic competitiveness / Jason E. Lane -- The diversity of university economic development activities and issues of impact measurement / Thomas Gais and David Wright -- Pitfalls of traditional measures of higher education's role in economic development / Peter McHenry,...

This paper investigates the role of fiscal guarantees in promoting infrastructure investment. Infrastructure is a critical driver of economic growth, but infrastructure entails significant up-front costs that yield benefits after a time lag. Investors hesitate to put their money down on private...

Reinventing economic development as if small business mattered. In cities and towns across the nation, economic development is at a crossroads. A growing body of evidence has proven that its current cornerstone--ncentives to attract and retain large, globally mobile businesses--is a dead end....