Definitions of Economic development on the Web:

• Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. It is the process by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well being of its people. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_development

• A program, a group of policies, and/or activity that seeks to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community. Ideally, it will create and retain jobs and provide a stable tax base. ...
  www.co.lane.or.us/CAO_EconDev/Glossary.htm

• the institutional changes made to promote economic betterment. It is the social organizational changes made to promote growth in an economy.
  oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html

• growth that is planned and or desired.
  ldm.agriculture.purdue.edu/Pages/Resources/Gloss.html

• is any effort or undertaking which aids in the growth of the economy.
  www.envision.ca/templates/profile.asp

• Sustained increase in the economic standard of living of a country's population, normally accomplished by increasing its stocks of physical ...
  www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/e.html

• Qualitative change and restructuring in a country's economy in connection with technological and social progress. ...
  www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/glossary.html

• began to accelerate in the 1830s and 1840s with the creation of railroads. Major firms in heavy industry and machine building were established by innovative manufacturers like Alfred Krupp (factory built in Essen, 1826). ...
  www.bartleby.com/67/1071.html

• A term generally applied to the expansion of a community’s property and sales tax base or the expansion of the number of jobs through office, retail, and industrial development. Empty nesters—Adults, usually couples, whose children have grown up and left home. ...
  www.urbanplan.org/UP_Glossary/UP_Glossary.html

• residents benefiting from increased business activity, the retention of existing business, and enhanced investment associated with the desirability of high quality recreation and leisure services.
  www.city.waterloo.on.ca/Portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b282-c6475cdb7ee7/RL_documents/MPTermsRef.doc

• Economic development is typically measured in terms of jobs and income, but it also includes improvements in human development, education, health ...
  government.cce.cornell.edu/doc/html/MethodologyGuide_TermsUsed.htm

• The process of raising the level of prosperity and material living in a society through increasing the productivity and efficiency of its economy. ...
  www.indiana.edu/~ipe/glossry.html

• Some states allow condemnation and transfer to private parties only to eradicate slum or blight. Other states have statutes that allow local governments to condemn for “economic development. ...
  www.castlecoalition.org/index.php

• enhancing the economic development of South Australia through the growth in the Information Economy, and through the exploitation of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) across all industry sectors in South Australia;
  www.informationeconomy.sa.gov.au/policy/ieab/terms_of_reference

• Raising the productive capacities of societies, in terms of their technologies (more efficient tools and machines), technical cultures (knowledge ...
  web.uct.ac.za/depts/ricsa/projects/publicli/poverty/pov_def.htm