Abstract
This paper summarizes the basis of university attempts in the United States to stimulate economic development. Next, the paper describes the background of a particular university's economic development program. The projects and especially the problems of that university's economic development program are enumerated in detail. The problems include financial losses in particular projects large enough to cause the university to terminate the program, corruption, widespread public criticism of the program and of the university, and criminal convictions of two top officers of the program. Perspectives from the study of university-business relationships as well as from the study of public finance and budgeting and of deviance and white-collar crime help interpret the problems of the program. Possible solutions to such problems are offered. These suggestions include budgeting and reporting requirements, as well as a variety of structural features that need to be part of university economic development programs.
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Senter, R. Economic development and the university: A case study of a failed program. Res High Educ 37, 367–387 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730107