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The Michigan Land Use Institute promotes local economic self-reliance that is consistent with conserving open land and protecting clean air and clean water. The website includes a wide variety of publications on smart growth, economic development, and related issues, both in Michigan and nationally.

The Levy Institute of Bard College serves as one of the leading academic research centers on issues of wealth and income distribution, as well as a wide range of other economic issues.

This website, hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, focuses on efforts to preserve independently owned retail establishments and resist the proliferation of big-box retailers. The site features articles on local disputes, as well as a number of economic impact studies that document the greater local economic multiplier effect of locally owned retail establishments.

Good Jobs First is a national advocacy organization that tracks corporate accountability legislation, including job quality standards (i.e., requirements that economic development subsidies lead to higher paying jobs), disclosure rules (i.e., requirements that the amount of the subsidies that each company receives be displayed in a form that is accessible to the public), and monitoring (i.e., requirements that part of the subsidy money be returned to the government if job employment and job quality commitments are not met). The website includes model legislation, as well as links to descriptions of state disclosure legislation.

A nonprofit founded by Ralph Nader in 1968, the Center's primary focus is to empower citizens, especially students, to foster reform in areas such as environmental, consumer and worker health and safety issues.  The center has published numerous books, which are listed on the website, conducted a variety of projects and research, and frequently hosts conferences.  Nader and his organization encourage Americans to emphasize government and corporate accountability. 

Local labor movements in a small but growing number of cities have embarked upon a long-term strategy to gain greater power in their regions. With revitalized central labor councils at the core, unions and allied groups are electing progressive champions, shifting the political debates to economic justice issues, and supporting the right of workers to organize. The Building Regional Power Research Project was established at Wayne State University to document and promote this work and contains a number of studies on efforts in different cities.

This web site provides documents and resources regarding the EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program, which supports local efforts to generate electricity from methane, a practice that can generate revenue for localities while supporting environmental and economic development objectives.

This website, home to the Public Strategies Group consulting practice, also contains resources on how to “reinvent” government, with a focus on the state and local level. One of their staff members is David Osborne, coauthor of Reinventing Government in 1992 and, more recently, author of The Price of Government, which focuses on need-based budgeting, in 2004.

This website provides a comprehensive data source for state government policies and budgetary information. The main Rockefeller website has additional available publications on state and local government and community economic development issues.