Category Archives: Business incentives

Top ten points about business incentives in my book

Posted on May 13, 2011 by timbartik

Although the main focus of my book is early childhood programs, I also extensively discuss business incentives.  Even for those interested primarily in early childhood programs, understanding the pros and cons of business incentives is important.  Political debates over state … Continue reading →

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Is competition among states in business incentives a good thing?

Posted on May 3, 2011 by timbartik

In a previous post, I concluded that under some conditions, competition among states in investment in early childhood education could be a good thing. I argued that such competition could meet two  of Harvard professor John Donahue’s criteria for devolving … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

Why “100% sales factor apportionment” is relevant to state policy debates over business tax cuts vs. public investments in early childhood programs

Posted on April 20, 2011 by timbartik

An important issue in state policy debates is the relative effectiveness, in boosting state economic development, of these two alternatives: cuts in state corporate taxes; investments in productive public services such as early childhood programs. A crucial point is that … Continue reading →

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More devilish details about educational investments versus business tax cuts

Posted on April 19, 2011 by timbartik

A previous post responded to a question from an early childhood and education program advocate, who is trying to convince state legislators and their staff that educational investments compare favorably with business tax cuts. Their question was: “Do we have … Continue reading →

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Business taxes vs. human capital investments as economic development programs

Posted on April 18, 2011 by timbartik

I recently received a question from an advocate for early childhood education and other education programs. This question arises from this advocate’s interactions with state government legislative staff. These staff persons are judging these educational investments by their effects on … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Early childhood programs, Economic development | 1 Comment

Why business incentive competition within metro areas makes no sense

Posted on April 15, 2011 by timbartik

The April 8 New York Times had an article by A.G. Sulzberger on competition for business within the Kansas City metropolitan area, between the Kansas and Missouri portions of the KC metro area. The article quoted me as saying that … Continue reading →

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Governors’ budget proposals reveal debate over how state government can best respond to economic distress

Posted on April 6, 2011 by timbartik

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has a useful recent report that summarizes the budget proposals for fiscal year 2012 of 48 Governors. (Fiscal year 2012 runs from July 1 2011 to June 30 2012 in most states.)  … Continue reading →

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Community colleges and local economic development

Posted on April 1, 2011 by timbartik

In chapter 12 of Investing in Kids, I consider how more community college graduates affect a state’s economic development. The skills from more graduates of community colleges will spur a state’s economic growth by increasing the skill level of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Early childhood programs, Economic development, Incentive design issues | 1 Comment

Early childhood programs as one component of the solution for long-run, broad-based economic prosperity

Posted on March 17, 2011 by timbartik

At a recent presentation I made on early childhood programs, one person asked the following question: “How do we restore the American middle class?” Although some might perceive this question as “off-topic”, I do not. We need to be thinking … Continue reading →

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Reforming business incentives: possibilities for state and local reforms

Posted on March 1, 2011 by timbartik

As a series of posts have outlined, many state and local business tax incentives have national benefits less than their costs. A federal policy to restrain such business tax incentives would be in the national interest. However, such a federal … Continue reading →

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