Regional partnerships have grown popular as mechanisms to address public goods that transcend local boundaries, but we know little about their effectiveness. For example, what impact do regional economic development partnerships (REDPs), cooperative organizations of local governments, nonprofits and business organizations have on the economies of metropolitan areas? This article employs survival analysis and multilevel growth curve models to examine how the emergence of regional partnership arrangements influences patterns of economic development in U.S. metropolitan areas. The results suggest that, whereas these organizations do not make a great difference in some metro areas, in densely populated and politically fragmented metropolitan areas personal incomes, business firms, and employment grew significantly with the emergence of REDPs. Furthermore, state level factors, such as intergovernmental grant funding, are found to have positive influences. In conclusion, we discuss regional partnerships as solutions to institutional collective action problems in economic development and other policy arenas.