Partnerships in Economic Development: What Influences the Formation of Interlocal Development Agreements?

The “rules of the game” embodied in municipal documents constrain as well as provide opportunities for local government officials to capture individual benefits related to policy action. We test the mediating effect form of government has on the probability of joint venture formation for economic development purposes. Data is generated from a survey of local officials in 2004 and 2007. We find that prior agreements influence future cooperative actions and that institutional arrangements mediate horizontal agreements depending on whether development objectives are local or regional in nature.