UDAG, Economic Development, and the Death and Life of American Cities

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Abstract
The Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) program awarded $4.6 billion to assist about 3,000 economic development projects in more than 1,200 cities during its 12 years of operation (1978-1989). This article examines data from a variety of sources to assess the UDAG experience. Topics addressed include the program's legislative history, characteristics of participant cities and the distribution of UDAG projects and funds, public-private partnership composition and fiscal strategies in selected cities, and an assessment of UDAG program impacts. The article concludes that UDAG made several important contributions to local economic development in addition to the federal aid that was targeted to distressed cities. The program's most important contribution was its role in transforming local economic development policy from one based primarily on a donor mentality that emphasized tax abatements and infrastructure improvements to a more entrepreneurial approach that emphasized the recapture of public funds.

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