Making Sense of Incentives

Making Sense of Incentives PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880996684
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Bartik provides a clear and concise overview of how state and local governments employ economic development incentives in order to lure companies to set up shop—and provide new jobs—in needy local labor markets. He shows that many such incentive offers are wasteful and he provides guidance, based on decades of research, on how to improve these programs.

Making Sense of Incentives

Making Sense of Incentives PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880996684
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
Bartik provides a clear and concise overview of how state and local governments employ economic development incentives in order to lure companies to set up shop—and provide new jobs—in needy local labor markets. He shows that many such incentive offers are wasteful and he provides guidance, based on decades of research, on how to improve these programs.

Who Benefits from Economic Development Incentives?

Who Benefits from Economic Development Incentives? PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Competition
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
This report presents results from a simulation model that examines the effects of economic development incentives (e.g., tax incentives such as property tax abatements or job creation tax credits) provided to businesses by state and local governments in the United States. The model simulates effects of incentive policies on the incomes of local residents, both for different income types (e.g., labor income versus property income) and for different income quintiles, under different assumptions about the economy’s workings and public policy. Net benefits of incentives for local incomes are greater if the incentives have greater job-creation effects conditional on their effects on business costs, and in particular if incentives have multipliers as great as have sometimes been estimated for high tech manufacturing. Incentive design and financing is also key. If tax incentives are replaced with customized services (e.g., customized job training) that are as productive as has sometimes been estimated, net benefits increase enormously, and in a progressive manner. The opportunity costs of how incentives are paid for—what taxes are increased or what spending is cut—also matter a great deal. For example, financing incentives by cutting back on productive services such as K–12 education has very negative effects on local incomes and highly regressive effects on the income distribution. Who gets the jobs matters: local incentive benefits increase, particularly for low- and middle-income groups, if a greater proportion of the jobs go to the local nonemployed rather than in-migrants. Finally, refocusing incentives on locally owned businesses has effects that vary enormously under different assumptions about who is assisted and how they are assisted.

Rethinking Investment Incentives

Rethinking Investment Incentives PDF Author: Ana Teresa Tavares-Lehmann
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231541643
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Governments often use direct subsidies or tax credits to encourage investment and promote economic growth and other development objectives. Properly designed and implemented, these incentives can advance a wide range of policy objectives (increasing employment, promoting sustainability, and reducing inequality). Yet since design and implementation are complicated, incentives have been associated with rent-seeking and wasteful public spending. This collection illustrates the different types and uses of these initiatives worldwide and examines the institutional steps that extend their value. By combining economic analysis with development impacts, regulatory issues, and policy options, these essays show not only how to increase the mobility of capital so that cities, states, nations, and regions can better attract, direct, and retain investments but also how to craft policy and compromise to ensure incentives endure.

State Enterprise Zone Programs

State Enterprise Zone Programs PDF Author: Alan H. Peters
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880992506
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Enterprise zones have been part of American urban policy for over 20 years. In this book, the authors (urban and regional planning, the University of Iowa) use a hypothetical firm methodology to measure the value of enterprise zone incentives to business, involving construction of a set of financial statements for typical firms and application of tax code and incentives to those firms. They briefly discuss this model (with technical information on the model included in an appendix), and look at the results of enterprise zone programs in place in 13 states. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Investing in Kids

Investing in Kids PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880993723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
This book presents arguments for the following propositions: Local economic development strategies in the United States should include extensive investments in high quality early childhood programs, such as prekindergarten (pre K) education, child care, and parenting assistance. Economic development policies should also include reforms in business tax incentives. But economic development benefitsChigher earnings per capita in the local communityCcan be better achieved if business incentives are complemented by early childhood programs. Economic development benefits can play an important role in motivating a grassroots movement for investing in our kids.

Who Benefits from State and Local Economic Development Policies?

Who Benefits from State and Local Economic Development Policies? PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780880991131
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Rethinking Property Tax Incentives for Business

Rethinking Property Tax Incentives for Business PDF Author: Daphne A. Kenyon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558442337
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The use of property tax incentives for business by local governments throughout the United States has escalated over the last 50 years. While there is little evidence that these tax incentives are an effective instrument to promote economic development, they cost state and local governments $5 to $10 billion each year in forgone revenue. Three major obstacles can impede the success of property tax incentives as an economic development tool. First, incentives are unlikely to have a significant impact on a firm's profitability since property taxes are a small part of the total costs for most businesses--averaging much less than 1 percent of total costs for the U.S. manufacturing sector. Second, tax breaks are sometimes given to businesses that would have chosen the same location even without the incentives. When this happens, property tax incentives merely deplete the tax base without promoting economic development. Third, widespread use of incentives within a metropolitan area reduces their effectiveness, because when firms can obtain similar tax breaks in most jurisdictions, incentives are less likely to affect business location decisions. This report reviews five types of property tax incentives and examines their characteristics, costs, and effectiveness: property tax abatement programs; tax increment finance; enterprise zones; firm-specific property tax incentives; and property tax exemptions in connection with issuance of industrial development bonds. Alternatives to tax incentives should be considered by policy makers, such as customized job training, labor market intermediaries, and business support services. State and local governments also can pursue a policy of broad-based taxes with low tax rates or adopt split-rate property taxation with lower taxes on buildings than land.State policy makers are in a good position to increase the effectiveness of property tax incentives since they control how local governments use them. For example, states can restrict the use of incentives to certain geographic areas or certain types of facilities; publish information on the use of property tax incentives; conduct studies on their effectiveness; and reduce destructive local tax competition by not reimbursing local governments for revenue they forgo when they award property tax incentives.Local government officials can make wiser use of property tax incentives for business and avoid such incentives when their costs exceed their benefits. Localities should set clear criteria for the types of projects eligible for incentives; limit tax breaks to mobile facilities that export goods or services out of the region; involve tax administrators and other stakeholders in decisions to grant incentives; cooperate on economic development with other jurisdictions in the area; and be clear from the outset that not all businesses that ask for an incentive will receive one.Despite a generally poor record in promoting economic development, property tax incentives continue to be used. The goal is laudable: attracting new businesses to a jurisdiction can increase income or employment, expand the tax base, and revitalize distressed urban areas. In a best case scenario, attracting a large facility can increase worker productivity and draw related firms to the area, creating a positive feedback loop. This report offers recommendations to improve the odds of achieving these economic development goals.

Reining in the Competition for Capital

Reining in the Competition for Capital PDF Author: Ann R. Markusen
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880992964
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description


Incentives to Pander

Incentives to Pander PDF Author: Nathan M. Jensen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108311423
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Policies targeting individual companies for economic development incentives, such as tax holidays and abatements, are generally seen as inefficient, economically costly, and distortionary. Despite this evidence, politicians still choose to use these policies to claim credit for attracting investment. Thus, while fiscal incentives are economically inefficient, they pose an effective pandering strategy for politicians. Using original surveys of voters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as data on incentive use by politicians in the US, Vietnam and Russia, this book provides compelling evidence for the use of fiscal incentives for political gain and shows how such pandering appears to be associated with growing economic inequality. As national and subnational governments surrender valuable tax revenue to attract businesses in the vain hope of long-term economic growth, they are left with fiscal shortfalls that have been filled through regressive sales taxes, police fines and penalties, and cuts to public education.

Costs and Benefits of Economic Development Incentives

Costs and Benefits of Economic Development Incentives PDF Author: Terry E. Denker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic development projects
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description