August 26, 2002. More than 50 people attended the Sectoral Approaches to Economic Development Research conference in New York City on June 25, 2002, hosted by the CUNY Graduate Center, the Consortium for Worker Education, and the Fiscal Policy Institute. The three goals of this meeting were to: highlight best-practice examples of sectoral research over the past decade in; shed some light on why sectoral strategies have not been pursued more often by the City and State; and consider how a sectoral approach could be effectively introduced into current discussions on the city’s economic future. There was broad agreement that a deliberative, sector-based approach to economic development is superior to a piecemeal, incentive-based approach. However, several tensions also emerged. This paper articulates the issues with specific reference to discussion at the meeting. Read the paper >>