The Framework
The Local Capital Loop
A framework for understanding whether investment builds local assets or simply passes through a place.
Capital Inflow
Capital arrives from public investment, private investment, development finance, philanthropy, institutional capital, and household capital. The source shapes where value can ultimately land.
How to Read the Loop
Capital moves through five stages. Value is retained — or lost — at each one.
The loop traces investment from the moment it enters a local economy to the point where retained value becomes capital for the next cycle. Click or hover any stage to explore what happens there.
Where the Loop Breaks
Leakage points where value exits the local economy
At every stage, structures can route value outward instead of anchoring it in place. Identifying these leakage points is the first step toward closing the loop.
Absentee ownership
Non-local procurement
Extractive financial structures
Limited local equity participation
Land value leaving the community
Workforce disconnected from ownership
Profits exiting the local economy
What We Measure
Indicators under development
Building Equity is developing a structured set of indicators to assess the health of the Local Capital Loop in any given place. The following measures are forthcoming.
Capital entering
Forthcoming
Local ownership
Forthcoming
Local procurement
Forthcoming
Workforce participation
Forthcoming
Asset formation
Forthcoming
Value retention
Forthcoming
Reinvestment
Forthcoming
How We Apply It
From framework to strategy to project.
Research
Building the evidence base on capital flows, ownership, and value retention in specific places.
Diagnostics
Assessing where the loop is healthy and where value is leaking — at city, neighborhood, or project scale.
Strategy
Designing capital strategies and ownership structures that close leakage points and anchor value locally.
Project Design
Translating strategy into investable propositions with embedded local ownership and reinvestment.
