second wave
Emerged in the 1980s as economic development practitioners sought to move beyond the increasingly evident pitfalls of the low road (Fitzgerald & Leigh, 2002). Entrepreneurial policies attempt to foster innovation, nurture new businesses, and attract high-tech industries, purporting to grow local economies rather than merely poaching jobs from other areas (Grant, Wallace, & Pitney, 1995; Leicht & Jenkins, 1994). Policies include direct and indirect lending, investments in education targeted to specific employer needs, and technology transfers between local research universities and businesses. Entrepreneurial policies are often considered a “high road” approach to economic development because they emphasize new job growth (as opposed to job poaching) and encourage local or regional competitive advantages based on high-value economic products, not merely lower production costs as in the low road approach (Luria & Rogers, 1999). It is unclear, however, whether entrepreneurial development strategies represent a true departure from the low road, as entrepreneurial policies are often used alongside low road industrial recruitment tools (Bradshaw & Blakely, 1999). Observers raised the possibility of a “third wave” of state and local economic development policy starting in the 1990s (Hanley, 2014).