Every community talks about economic development. Cities pursue new businesses. Chambers promote job growth. Local leaders work to attract investment. But what if one of the most important drivers of a thriving local economy isn’t a tax incentive, a marketing campaign, or a new industrial park? What if it’s something much closer to home?  What if it’s neighbors knowing neighbors ? A framework called the Gearbox Framework offers a helpful way to understand how local economies grow—and it also reveals something important about the role of neighboring. You Can’t Start in Fourth Gear The Gearbox Framework compares economic development to driving a car with manual transmission. Communities move through four gears: People Place Local Business Cultivation Smart Recruitment Each gear builds on the previous one. The framework emphasizes that communities often make a mistake: they try to jump directly into fourth gear—business recruitment—before the earlier gears are working well. The frame...