Category Archives: National vs. state vs. local

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

Is competition among states in early childhood education a good thing?

Posted on May 2, 2011 by timbartik

In an earlier post, I quoted Harvard professor John Donahue as saying that devolving a policy area to the states makes sense if “competition boosts efficiency instead of inspiring destructive strategies”. Does competition among the states in early childhood education … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

Early childhood education versus other policy issues: the need for local action

Posted on April 29, 2011 by timbartik

A previous post argued that improving early childhood education in the United States deserved recognition as a major issue, alongside other major issues such as global warming. The argument was that improving early childhood education in the United States would … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

Preserving programs versus making needed investments

Posted on April 21, 2011 by timbartik

Irene Sage, at the blog “Eye on Early Education” of the Massachusetts-based Strategies for Children, has a useful post summarizing recent federal funding trends for early childhood programs.  Another useful recent post on recent federal funding decisions is by Laura … Continue reading →

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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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The pros and cons of federal involvement in early childhood programs

Posted on March 2, 2011 by timbartik

An earlier post compared the state perspective on early childhood programs with the national perspective. National economic development benefits of early childhood programs considerably exceed state benefits. This conclusion applies to three types of early childhood programs: high-quality universal pre-k; … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

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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Federal policy towards business incentives

Posted on February 28, 2011 by timbartik

Several posts have identified some problems with business incentives’ national benefits.  Business tax incentives in average- growth or fast-growth local areas are likely to have national benefits that are less than costs. On the other hand, business tax incentives in … Continue reading →

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

Are business tax incentives a zero sum game regardless of which local areas offer such incentives?

Posted on February 22, 2011 by timbartik

I argued in a previous post that the national benefits of business tax incentives were less than 20% of the state benefits of business tax incentives. But is this true regardless of which local area is offering these tax incentives? … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, National vs. state vs. local | 2 Comments

Do all business incentives have the same national benefits?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by timbartik

I argued in a previous post that business tax incentives did not have large national benefits because such incentives did nothing directly to raise the economy’s productivity. But some business incentives do seek to directly raise business productivity. Can such … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Incentive design issues, National vs. state vs. local | 2 Comments