Rural Science Association Conference - Workshop on Economics by Mr. Michael Kenny

1. What are the challenges? To see economics differently

The best definition of economics remains that of British economist Lionel Robbins in 1932: "Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses."

Economists use the term scarcity to refer to the limited resources humanity has at its disposal. Somehow, we must decide how, for what, and for whom these resources will be used. This is the economic problem

Indeed, when economists begin philosophizing about a world without scarcity, they become philosophers.

Modern economic theory is chiefly concerned with positive questions, as opposed to normative questions. Positive questions are those that can be addressed with empirical data, such as, "What is the unemployment rate?"

Positive questions are concerned with facts.

Normative questions, by contrast, deal with values and beliefs and cannot be answered by economic theory alone. These are questions like, "Isn't the unemployment rate too high?"

There is no single concept of "fairness" within the definition of economics. Economic theory is merely an attempt to find relationships between positive statements.

2. What are the opportunities? Build on Assets

Recognition of social capital; participatory approaches to development, which are based on principles of empowerment and ownership; collaborative economic development models that place priority on making the best use of a community's resource base; and efforts to strengthen civil society by engaging people as citizens rather than clients. Assets may be persons, physical structures, natural resources, institutions, businesses, or informal organizations

3. What are the solutions? Re-discover collaborative and supportive models of integrated development

Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) are credited with developing the concept of asset-based community development (ABCD)

The ABCD process involves the community in making an inventory of assets and capacity, building relationships, developing a vision of the future, and leveraging internal and external resources to support actions to achieve it.

Recent ABCD projects are changing the focus from community development to community building and extends into "whole community organising," which resolves such issues as exclusion, self-interest, and the limitations of past disagreements

The ABCD model of sustainable community development places asset building at its heart. In an increasingly fragile world, rural areas should be recognised as resource rich; places where assets are stewarded for the nation as a whole. All rural communities contain assets, in the sense of money, buildings, land, landscape, culture and social capital. These need to be recognised and harnessed for public benefit alongside necessary public and private sector investment.

Tools:
Plugging the Leaks Making the most of every pound that enters your local economy. Bernie Ward and Julie Lewis, The New Economics Foundation, September 2002

The Money Trail: Measuring your impact on the local economy using LM3. Justin Sacks, New Economics Foundation and The Countryside Agency, December 2002

Readings

Economic Performance Through Time: Douglass C. North in The American Economic Review, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Jun., 1994), pp. 359-368, Published by: American Economic Association

Competitiveness: A Dangerous Obsession: Paul Krugman. published by the Council on Foreign Relations March April 1994

Community Asset Mapping: Trends and Issues. Alert no. 47, Sandra Kerka 2003

A Charter For Rural Communities; The Final Report of the Carnegie Commission for Rural Community Development. Carnegie UK Trust, June 2007

Plugging the Leaks Making the most of every pound that enters your local economy. Bernie Ward and Julie Lewis, The New Economics Foundation, September 2002

The Money Trail: Measuring your impact on the local economy using LM3. Justin Sacks, New Economics Foundation and The Countryside Agency, December 2002

Elliot, C. (1999). Locating the Energy for Change: An Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry. Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Green , G., & Haines, A. (2002). Asset Building and Community Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Healy, K. (2005). Asset-based community development: recognising and building on community strengths. In O’Hara, A. & Weber, Z. (eds), Skill for Human Service and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ife, J. (2002). Community Development: Community-based Alternatives in an Age of Globalisation (2nd ed.). Australia: Pearson Education.

Kretzman, J., & McKnight, J. L. (1993). Building Communities from the Inside Out: Centre for Urban Affairs and Policy Research. Chicago: ACTA Publications.

Mathie, A. & Cunningham, G. (2003). From clients to citizens: Asset based community development as a strategy for community driven development. Development in Practice, Vol. 13 (5).

Putnam, R. (2002). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Mathie, A. & Cunningham, G. (2003). From clients to citizens: Asset based community development as a strategy for community driven development. Development in Practice, Vol. 13 (5).

What is asset based community development?

The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a methodology that seeks to uncover and highlight the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development. The basic tenet is that a capacities-focused approach is more likely to empower the community and therefore mobilise citizens to create positive and meaningful change from within.

Instead of focusing on a community's needs, deficiencies and problems, the ABCD approach helps them become stronger and more self-reliant by discovering, mapping and mobilizing all their local assets. Few people realize how many assets any community has:
o the skills of its citizens, from youth to disabled people, from thriving professionals to starving artists;
o the dedication of its citizens associations — churches, culture groups, clubs, neighborhood associations
o the resources of its formal institutions — businesses, schools, libraries, community colleges, hospitals, parks, social service agencies.
o Etc.

By the late 1990s, communities around the country were mapping and using these resources in imaginative ways, bringing them out of the closet and into creative synergy with each other, with dramatic results. Asset-based community development has provided leaders and institutions in all sectors with an approach that is relatively cheap, effective and empowering, that avoids paternalism and dependence -- an approach that can be supported by all parts of the political spectrum and initiated at any level of civic life.

Resource Book
John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets (Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, 1993; $15 from ACTA Publications [800] 397-2282)

Have a look at the following Utube video from Australia: ABCD in NSW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcq5L60-qjQ

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