AN ASSESSMENT OF NATIVE-AMERICAN ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT - PUTTING CULTURE AND SOVEREIGNTY BACK IN THE MODELS

Economic indicators in the United States document the poor economic st raits in which Native Americans find themselves. Historically, scholar s have explained delayed economic development using Linear Stage, Stru ctural-Change, Dependency and Neoclassical Counter Revolution Models. All of these, however, are unable to fully explain the Native American case. We discuss the deficiencies of these models and point out the e ffects of constantly changing United States policies on Native America n economic well-being. We present data from a survey of tribal governm ent respondents about preferred business arrangements on the reservati on to support greater attention to cultural identity in economic devel opment studies. A model that incorporates cultural and sovereignty var iables is presented.