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.

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.

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.

The Role of Local Government in Economic Development

The Role of Local Government in Economic Development PDF Author: Jonathan Q. Morgan
Publisher: Unc School of Government
ISBN: 9781560116127
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Book Description
This report discusses the findings from a mail survey of local government economic development activities that was sent to all 540 municipalities and 100 counties in North Carolina. An important part of the analysis examines whether cities and counties differ significantly in their economic development efforts and whether smaller jurisdictions employ different types of development strategies and tools than larger ones. The survey findings also highlight the barriers that local governments face in promoting economic development and identify important technical assistance needs and gaps in local capacity.

Learning to Lead

Learning to Lead PDF Author: Maury B. Forman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description


Promoting Prosperity in Mississippi

Promoting Prosperity in Mississippi PDF Author: Brandon N. Cline
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 173203530X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
In this book, we identify key areas for Mississippi economic policy reform. Twenty-one scholars, ten of which are from or work in Mississippi, have contributed original policy research. All twenty chapters were written specifically for Mississippi with a shared goal to promote prosperity in the state. While some of the chapters contain complex policy reforms, we have made every effort to present the concepts and ideas in a way that is understandable to the average citizen, the person who can benefit the most from this information. The first three chapters of the text summarize the basic economic principles necessary to achieve economic prosperity. These three chapters present the principles behind the reforms proposed in the subsequent seventeen chapters. Each chapter was written independently and offers unique insight into different areas of state policy reform. While the topics covered range from tax reform, education reform, healthcare, corporate welfare, occupational licensing and business regulatory reform to criminal justice reform, and natural disaster recovery efforts, there is a clear unifying framework underlying the conclusions reached in each chapter. The theme throughout is that economic growth is best achieved through free market policies, policies which are based on limited government, lower regulations, lower taxes, minimal infringement on contracting and labor markets, secure private property rights, low subsidies, and privatization. Policy based on these principles allows Mississippians to have more rights and more choices in their lives.

Transporting and Transforming a Nation

Transporting and Transforming a Nation PDF Author: Edward James Blakely
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Commuting
Languages : en
Pages : 652

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Book Description


New Institutions for Socio-Economic Development

New Institutions for Socio-Economic Development PDF Author: Elena G. Popkova
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110699915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
The strategies and practical approaches for socio-economic development are undergoing systemic changes under the influence of new developments in global economic systems and markets. The most significant factors influencing such changes are connected to the start of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which is impacting all economic systems to a greater or lesser extent. The creation of the digital economy and transition to Industry 4.0 particularly increases the significance of hi-tech for socio-economic development. Secondly, there is now a transition underway from a period of unlimited globalization and comprehensive integration to more limited globalization and selective economic integration. The growing importance of regionalization on the global economic system is manifested in the formation and rapid development of new integration unions at the regional or country level (e.g., the EU and the EAEU), and company level (e.g., regional sectoral economic clusters, special economic areas, technological parks, and innovative networks). Thirdly, there’s an urgent need for faster innovation, which leads to the formation of more innovative economies. The global financial crisis drew attention to the problems of managing sustainability and achieving balance in socio-economic development. The formation and exponential growth of the information society, based on digital technologies, is now stimulating the growth and significance of corporate social and environmental responsibility as a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. Thus, the paradigm of socio-economic development is changing from absolute rationality (economic effectiveness) and stability – which has historically been associated with problems of stagnation – to responsibility (limited and socially-oriented rationality) and dynamism (quick innovative development based on leading technologies). This book aims to provide a scientific substantiation for this new paradigm.