In a deterministic context the outcomes sought are for improved levels of
employment, higher levels of income-and-expenditure, more project start-ups, an
ever-expanding and improving infrastructure, resource conservancy, heritage
preservation and an increase in all manner of value-added flows in and out of a
region. In more subtle associationistterms the emphasis is upon achieving a socio-
economic-environmental triple harmony, calling into being operational proce-
dures which display openness, political honesty, and produce a multiplicity of
options.
The multiple spiral for development construct highlights the
expansionist character of basic(export-model) and residentiary
(consumer-model) economic growth theory. The base export sector
comprises industries which earn income from ‘outside’ including
those extra-regional tourism and business services where the
receipts ‘in’ exceed the flow of import payments ‘out’. The resi-
dentiary sectoris supportive of the base export sector in that it
provides services and collateral support for ‘within region’ expen-
diture and consumption. Both export base sector and residentiary
sector spending is good for a region; yet it is ‘base export pro-
duction’ and export-focused jobs which gear up the multiplier
effect. This arises because the purchasing monies paid out for
‘export’ goods and services usually originate outside the region
of supply. The economic base multiplier is the mechanism which
makes a real difference through the generation of jobs which increase the eco-
nomic base output overall, and through the addition of export units of product.
In effect, when one export job knocks on to generate (say) two residentiary jobs
(the economic base multiplier becomes ‘two’) and the total number of jobs created
is three; and at say 4.25 family persons per breadwinner the aggregate number of
spending dependents introduced into the regional economy is about 14 persons.
The longer-term ‘support’ and ‘induced’ economic multiplier benefits of base
export activities are of more permanent worth to a region than the initial or ‘start-
up’ effects and returns.
It is appealing to look at multiplier dynamics in terms of jobs.
This, however, is seldom fully adequate because problems arise
with fiscal accounting for trans-regional communities, and with
the calibration of income from seasonal and part-time employ-
ment. Within-region value-added dollars are reliable indicators,
with few data difficulties to overcome within already efficiently
taxed administrations. A complication can occur in that although
a ‘basic export dollar’ may be earned within a region, a proportion of that dollar
will usually settle outside the region. Some federal tax policies applied to
both ‘basic’ and ‘residentiary’ productions are ineffective when income flows out
untaxed, failing the region where the earning was generated, although, to be sure,
other pension and welfare dollars do flow into a region from outside. It can
be seen that both the ‘basic’ export earning capacity and the ‘residentiary’ co-
employment generated is beholden to ‘rest of the world’ open-economy trading
policies.122 Practice
Noteworthy to the
reader interested in
procedural theory is the
fact that the figure 2.6
‘planning’ construct
(chapter 2) is styled as a
progression; whereas
figure 4.1 is styled as a
spiral. The two
constructs infer an
interface between
‘planning’ and
‘development’, although
that is not the purpose
of these distinctly
different constructs.Regional multiplier
dynamics can be
contemplated as a local
engagement of
Keynesian principles –
to invest, create
demand, and consume.