Investment Ability's Influence on Regional Development in Southern Illinois
Abstract
The need for this study emerged as slowly as the turgid
pools in the stream of our progressing economy. In the pools,
labor surpluses grew, the backlog of needs increased; until the
gap was noticeable, demanded action. Now is the time to examine
the action which these demands received. Was it effective?
Much effort has been expended as well as money. Or, has the
investment factor caused all to founder?
In the main, the programs directed to the eradication of
these pockets of poverty have tried to enable them to fulfill
the main functions of a mature, capitalistic economy. Idealized,
these are Investing, Producing, and Servicing. Efforts have been
made in trying to equate the marginal returns of each individual
project, but the nature of each function prevents this. It is the essence of investment to decrease the cost of the other functions
and thus to return every time more than the original cost
of investment. Therefore, programs have attempted to encourage
the entrepreneur, the innovator, and risk taker. On the outside,
this does not seem to work.