Recent research on local economic development does not provide an adequate framework for anticipating the consequences of cross national policy transfer and emulation. The research focuses on case specific analysis of one or another program within specific national or economic situations, but such analyses are not structured by a common understanding of the forces which shape policy formation or implementation. This article argues that we must rethink how we understand local policy by combining state‐centered and class‐centered theories of local policy outcomes. It suggests that such an approach would provide a better basis for both anticipating policy outcomes and predicting transferabil