In the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Communities & Banking Journal, localist Bruce Seifer presents an excerpt from his new book that describes the shift in Burlington, Vermont’s economic development strategy from one that seeks corporate subsidies to one based on building local entrepreneurship. Seifer gives an overview of the city’s long-term economic vision and describes the city’s efforts to convert business into employee-owned companies and to provide technical assistance to locally owned firms.
Burlington is the largest municipality in the state of Vermont by far.
Situated on the edge of Lake Champlain, the city boasts a hospital,
five colleges, and quality-of-life amenities that include a bike path, a
boat house, historic architecture, a marina, and parks. But it wasn’t
always so ideal.
