Economic Development in a New Economy

Extractive vs. Circulatory Economics
Why People & Communities Are Getting Poorer

Wages may be up modestly, but many households feel less secure than they did a generation ago. The reason isn’t simply “inflation” or individual budgeting. It is instead that the cost of life’s essentials (housing, healthcare, education, transportation, and food) has increased while people’s ability to build has decreased.

This white paper explains a deeper structural dynamic behind that lived reality. It demonstrates how extractive economics are systems that pull wealth upward and outward from communities, and circulatory economics are systems that retain and compound value locally.

WHO THIS PAPER IS FOR

Economic development boards, committees, and staff
Workforce development organizations and civic leaders
Anyone trying to understand why “growth” doesn’t always translate to prosperity

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

What “getting poorer” actually means (not just income, but shrinking margin after essential costs)
How wealth consolidation works—why “money makes money” and why gains clump at the top over time
What extractive economics looks like in practice across corporate ownership, finance, platforms, and local value leakage
Why consolidation accelerates extraction by centralizing decision-making and profit capture away from communities
What circulatory economics is and how local ownership, governance, and reinvestment change outcomes over time
Why understanding must come before strategy—how communities lock in extraction when they act without shared clarity

WHY THIS MATTERS NOW

Many communities are making major long-term decisions about recruitment priorities, incentives, housing policy, workforce pipelines, infrastructure investments and more without a shared understanding of the economic system those decisions reinforce.

This paper provides a framework leaders can use to ask better questions:

Where does value go after it is created here?
Who controls reinvestment decisions over time?
Are we building an economy that circulates wealth or extracts it?
What tradeoffs are hidden by “jobs created” and “capital invested” metrics?

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER

If you are trying to make sense of declining affordability, stalled wealth-building, and the growing gap between economic activity and economic security, this white paper is a place to start.

Extractive vs. Circulatory Economics
Why People & Communities Are Getting Poorer Over Time

This white paper is provided for educational purposes. There is no obligation and no assumption of follow-up.

HOW THIS FITS INTO MY WORK

I work with communities and institutions to help them understand the economic forces shaping their future and to make better decisions because of that understanding.

Organizations can use this white paper to:

Educate boards and leadership teams
Align staff and partners around a shared framework
Create a clearer basis for long-term planning conversations
Improve how tradeoffs are discussed and explained publicly

FROM UNDERSTANDING TO ACTION

Once leaders share a clear understanding of the system they are operating within, a natural question often follows:

“What should we do first?”

That is where facilitated alignment work can be useful (board workshops, leadership sessions, and structured discussions). Any implementation decisions about communications, strategy, or execution should come later and separately.

Jason Broadwater works with communities and institutions to help them understand the economic forces shaping their future and how to make better decisions because of that understanding.