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Ed Morrison · More on spinning off the Ohio Department of Development
August 22nd, 2010
A business-led group in Wisconsin recently proposed moving that state’s economic development activities to a quasi-public body, Accelerate Wisconsin. This morning, two business school deans came out in favor of the proposal.
You can read the initiative in the report below. Pay particular attention to the operation and governance proposed (pages 34-36).
Wisconsin Competitiveness Study
Last 5 posts by Ed Morrison
- Signing off - February 3rd, 2012
- "The current global development model is unsustainable" - February 1st, 2012
- Market opportunities for developing Chicago's green economy - January 29th, 2012
- Plain Dealer flubs its explanation for firing Tony Grossi - January 27th, 2012
- Linking and leveraging university assets to strengthen regional economies - January 27th, 2012
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
In general, I consider Kasich’s proposal to be far more effective as a political/ideological position than as an operational one. But it is an idea worth debate. There can be little doubt that Ohio’s Department of development would benefit from a higher degree of professionalism and less politics.
But as Ed pointed out in his previous post, the real question isn’t whether a private, non-profit entity is a more effective vehicle for development than a public entity. Here in Cleveland, for example, the principal role of our private, non-profit GCP seems to be lobbying for public funds to be put to private purposes…and even “good” non-profits like JumpStart wouldn’t exist without State funding. And does anybody want our economy?
Public agencies can be well-run and effective, and private entities can be lazy, bureaucratic and ineffective.
The Wisconsin example suggests a “public/private partnership” entity whose structure is much more likely than Kasich’s proposal (it is hardly a plan) to withstand constitutional muster.
But institutions don’t do the work. People do. The REAL questions involve the State’s vision for the future of Ohio’s economy, and how we measure the effectiveness of whatever entity is created to execute that vision. An old boss of mine used to remind us regularly, “If you can’t measure it, it’s not happening.”