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economies, unless those areas are losing jobs or have high <br /> unemployment. <br /> Unfortunately, in most places it is hard to reverse the "go for growth" <br /> political juggernaut that remains on autopilot. A powerful growth <br /> coalition exists in most metro areas (e.g., real estate developers, <br /> Chambers of Commerce, newspapers and utilities, and economic <br /> development professionals) that advocates getting bigger, even if the <br /> new jobs pay little and the region is coping with the pains of growth. <br /> For example, economic developers in Northern Virginia still <br /> aggressively recruit new firms, even though traffic congestion is the <br /> worst in the nation, housing prices among the highest, and <br /> unemployment among the lowest. <br /> As a result, the new goal for economic development, particularly in <br /> fully developed areas, should be to raise average per capita incomes <br /> through higher-wage jobs, while working to reduce poverty and <br /> expand opportunity for economically disadvantaged residents, all the <br /> while boosting the region's quality of life. This does not mean that <br /> communities should oppose growth and erect regulations limiting it; it <br /> does mean that most areas should not continue to pursue job creation <br /> for its own sake. <br /> This is not to say that the strategy should remain fixed. If, unlikely as <br /> it is, productivity growth rates slow significantly in the next decade <br /> and unemployment increases, the appropriate goals and strategies <br /> might change. But for now and the foreseeable future, economic <br /> strategy should focus on raising incomes rather than simply attracting <br /> jobs. <br /> Beliefs About Economic Development in the Old and New Economies • <br />