Political and popular control of Baltimore, Maryland's quasi-public economic development corporations from 1965 to 2000

Increasingly, local governments delegate the responsibility for economic development to quasi-public organizations (Quapos), which are exempt from many laws and regulations applicable to wholly public agencies. The use of Quapos has sparked debate among urban scholars regarding the impact of these organizations on policy development and resource distribution. Critics argue that Quapos operate independent of political and popular control and, therefore, bias economic development decisions in favor of the interests of private capital. Supporters argue that Quapos improve the efficiency and effectiveness of economic development by avoiding unnecessarily lengthy and cumbersome procedures. Neither side tends to provide much empirical validation for its arguments.; One type of Quapo is the economic development corporation (EDC). Through case studies of three EDCs used by the Baltimore, Maryland city government to develop and implement economic development policy from 1965 to 2000, I assess whether, and if so to what extent, using EDCs significantly impacts political and popular control of economic development decisions.; I find that while Baltimore's EDCs were adopted because of their ability to avoid regulations that could have otherwise increased political and popular control, the quasi-public status of the EDCs had a relatively minimal impact on the ability of citizens and elected officials to control economic development decision-making. Further, I argue that the more significant limitation on political and popular control was the historical political context in which the EDCs operated. This context was one in which the City Council willingly decided not to apply the range of mechanisms at its disposal for controlling the EDCs. This limited citizens' control by reducing their ability to impact the EDCs through their elected legislative representatives.; I conclude that the prominent generalizations regarding the impact of Quapos on local economic development policy and resource distribution need further development. Both the specific type of Quapo being utilized and the political context in which it is operating must be thoroughly examined before accurate conclusions can be drawn regarding the impact of quasi-public status. Thus, further study of Quapos used for economic development in other cities is warranted in order to develop the theory on Quapos more fully.