The Grace of Import Replacement - Schumacher Center for a New Economics

Jane Jacobs painted an image of regional economies in which myriad small industries produce for regional markets—small industries that depend on local materials, local labor, local capital, local transport systems, and appropriately scaled technology to conduct business. She pictured the fruits of this regional industry spilling over to support a rich cultural life in the city at the hub of the region. This bustling creative energy would then foster new innovation and industry, filling in the “niches” of the economy. Jacobs stands as one of the most visionary economic thinkers of the last part of the twentieth century.