Financial incentives are often used by policymakers to attract big businesses to locate in a place and deliver jobs and growth.
But do they actually make any difference?
Economic development and incentives expert Tim Bartik joins Andrew Carter to debunk the biggest assumptions made by policymakers in this field, revealing that 75% of the time, the same number of jobs would have been created without any incentives at all.
Tim and Andrew cover recent high-profile cases such as Amazon’s much-criticised plans for the location of its second headquarters in Virginia and New York City and Wisconsin’s $4 billion state and local tax incentives to Foxxconn in the promise of 13,000 new jobs that never materialised.
Tim reveals the opportunity costs, spillovers and leakages that offering a high cash-per-job price tag create, and instead sets out a better way to achieve inclusive local economic growth and good jobs for all.
Background reading:
City Talks: Party conference special - where do politicians stand in the devolution debate?
City Talks: Jonathan Rodden on the deep roots of the urban-rural political divide
City Talks: Dr Julie Grail, Chris Brown and Rebecca McDonald on the future of the British high street
City Talks: Otto Saumarez-Smith on the politics of 1960s radical urban renewal
City Horizons: Britain beyond Brexit with Gavin Kelly and Nick Pearce
City Talks: Michael Parkinson on bringing Liverpool back from the brink
City Talks: Neil O’Brien MP on building a strong national economy from the bottom up
City Talks: The rising threat of air pollution in cities – and how to fight back
City Talks: Where have all the good jobs gone? With David Blanchflower
City Talks: Why cities look the way they do
City Talks: Cities – the first 6,000 years
City Talks: Opportunity Zones with Bruce Katz
City Talks: Inventing future cities
City Talks: Mapping the geography of anti-EU sentiment
Event catch up: Cities Outlook 2019 launch
City Talks: A mind of its own - uncovering the psychology of cities
City Talks: How will Brexit affect cities?
City Talks: Is your council about to go bust?
City Talks: Amy Goldstein on the story of Janesville and its response to economic shock
City Talks: The UK's productivity problem and how to tackle it
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