This book is unique in gathering, organizing, and synthesizing research on economic development at the community level, across the developing world, drawing from multiple disciplines, publications, methodologies, regions, and countries. Part I provides an overview and context of the many challenges facing the developing world today, as well as the often-heated debates over what "development" is and how to make it happen. Part II reviews the extensive research literature in major fields of community economic development including education and human capital, overcoming the "curse of natural resources," entrepreneurship and micro-finance, tourism, and sustainability.
The audience includes undergraduate students interested in development and sustainability, graduate students and other young researchers in a wide range of disciplines who are finding their own focuses, and established researchers who wish to expand their agendas. An expanded bibliography accompanies the book as a downloadable supplement.
Mark M. Miller is a Professor of Geography; School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences (BEES); the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. His professional and research interests in economic development for low-income communities have included Mississippi and the Gulf South, Arizona, Nunavut, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica, and Cuba.