McFarlane J, Blackwell B, and S Mounter (in press) 'Good gardening for a perennial economy: What’s the optimal growth path for a regional economy? Journal of Developing Areas. 2017.

online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319036843_Good_gardening_for_a_perennial_economy_What's_the_optimal_growth_path_for_a_regional_economy

A key public policy issue in regional economic development is whether governments should act pro-actively with strategies to achieve local economic growth. Using a region within Australia, this project presents projections that test a number of such scenarios to establish whether pro-active strategies provide the greatest growth. Optimal growth is possible provided that employment policy builds job diversification. For the case economy, this means directing strategies away from mining into agriculture and the trade and tourism related sectors, such as wine tourism. The economic base theory and scenario testing techniques used in this paper demonstrate and deliver a useful contribution to the literature by exploring which industries contribute most to more diversified and sustainable growth. This paper highlights that through pre-emptive strategies perennial growth can be achieved.