Books For Economic Development Professionals
The Local And Regional Economic Development Handbook: Build Prosperous, Sustainable and Inclusive Local Economies
Everything the field expects you to know — in one reference you can trust, for the whole of your career.
Read it once and you’ll have the grounding the job assumes you already have. Keep it on your desk and you’ll reach for it for years — when you’re making the economic case to elected members, testing a business plan that has to stack up, designing a programme that needs to deliver, or briefing a partner who’s relying on you to know. Thirty-two years of UK practice, distilled into a single working reference that spans every discipline in the field and shows you how the work actually gets done. Whatever your role in shaping places and economies, this is the book that makes you more confident, more credible, and more effective — in the room and on the ground.
Prosperity In Every Postcode: Build Organisations That Turn Devolution Into Economic Development and Growth
Learn how to set up the organisations and teams that can discover and implement best practice themselves, and continually improve.
Power, money and responsibility are moving to mayors, combined authorities and councils – the opportunity places have been asking for. The places that thrive will be the ones that build the capability to use it well: sound evidence, strong relationships, well-designed programmes, disciplined delivery and continuous learning. All of it is buildable, and this book shows how.This book is not a strategy document and it is not a toolkit. There are no holy grails of local and regional economic development: no formula, no transplantable model, no single lever that works everywhere. What there is, instead, is a set of disciplines and capabilities that make institutions great at delivery. Prosperity in Every Postcode is an operating philosophy for the people responsible for the results.
Testimonials and Team
Glenn (BA, MA, PhD) has 31 years of experience in local, city and regional economic development and regeneration.
This includes executive leadership, project development and leadership, area visioning programmes, leading partnerships, and economic analysis and insight.
Glenn has held senior roles at Futureskills Scotland, London Development Agency, Centre for Cities, The East of England Development Agency, and Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP.
Glenn also heads up a consultancy practice at Mylocaleconomy; and contributes to the Local Skills Improvement Partnership.
"A Fabulous Resource For Our Industry"
“A big shout out to Glenn Athey who has taken his many years in economic development consultancy and created Economic Development World (www.economicdevelopment.world), the UK’s first online community for local and regional economic development that provides CPD, on-demand lean learning, a community of peers and workbooks. Built on three pillars of accelerated learning, shared knowledge and community support, it is a fabulous resource for our industry. Have a look at Glenn’s video tour at: https://economicdevelopment.world/take-a-video-tour-of-economic-development-world/
“From what I have seen already, this has the potential to create a stepchange in how the UK delivers economic development, putting the skills and development of practitioners, whether newbies or old hands, front and centre.
“Get yourselves signed up, get involved and support this great initiative.”
𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲” 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲
𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲" 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 Stop me if you've heard this before: "AI is coming for everyone's jobs, we need to prepare for mass unemployment." Here's the problem with that thinking - it's...
December 2025 UK Economic Outlook and Annual Review
In this article, I outline the headlines from the latest ONS statistics and business confidence surveys and also reflect on the Autumn budget and what this means for 2026. Key Economic Insights: Global slowdown continues: IMF forecasts growth falling from 3.3% (2024)...
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁)
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁) Does your local economy have plenty of labour demand and desperate employers who can’t get the workforce and skills they need? As well as unemployed residents who “can’t find work?” The problem isn’t lack of jobs. It’s that we fundamentally misunderstand how […]
Build your own SMART objectives with our toolkit
“𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆.” “𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵.” “𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽.” 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿? In 31 years of economic development work, I’ve learned one hard truth: 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. Sharpen up your objectives 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 – download the workbook by registering here. The single feature that separates successful initiatives […]
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁)
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁) Does your local economy have plenty of labour demand and desperate employers who can't get the workforce and skills they need? As well as unemployed residents who "can't find work?" The problem...
Build your own SMART objectives with our toolkit
"𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆." "𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵." "𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽." 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿? In 31 years of economic development work, I've learned one hard truth: 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. Sharpen up your objectives 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸...