Status Report On The States Economic Development Strategy

The growth of service and high-tech industries in recent years has dramatically altered the geographical distribution of businesses throughout America. Some states have had to attract new businesses to replace declining smokestack industries, while others have experienced the trauma of rapid economic growth. This collection of case studies of California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, Arizona, Minnesota, and Indiana analyzes strategies and problems of economic evolution and the role of state institutions in the context of regional, national and world economic change.

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.