Industrial Incentives: Competition Among American States and Cities Industrial Incentives: Competition Among American States and Cities
Peter S. Fisher and Alan H. Peters
First Chapter | Table of Contents

307 pp. 1998
$46.00 cloth 978-0-88099-184-1
$21.00 paper 978-0-88099-183-4

This is the first significant attempt to quantify the development efforts made by state and local governments. The authors' extensive research focuses on tax and incentive policies across the 24 most industrialized states in the U.S.A. and a sample of 112 cities from within those states. From this work they are able to reveal
  • the extent to which incentive policies are concentrated in economically distressed localities
  • the redistributive effects of state and local economic incentive programs
  • whether states subsidize competition between municipalities
  • whether high-incentive municipalities exist in high-incentive states
  • what proportion of local incentive packages is discretionary and what proportion is entitlement (nondiscretionary)
  • which types of firms are targeted with incentives, and what this says about the goals of incentive policy.
"[This book] provides an important contribution to the field of tax policy analysis. In clear, accessible language, Fisher and Peters describe and discuss the theoretical and practical difficulties presented by measuring the value of economic development incentives and, more importantly, the way to overcome these using their [Tax and Incentive Model]." –National Tax Journal

"In an arena where policy initiatives are often informed by a perceived need to 'do something,' rather than sound theory and evidence, Fisher and Peters have written a well argued and carefully documented book that moves the state of the art forward." –Regional Science & Urban Economics

"[Fisher and Peters'] research is the first rigorous study that provides us with significant information about the average magnitude of economic development incentives in the United States, how these incentives vary across different types of firms, and which states and cities offer the biggest incentives. It is painstakingly careful and fairminded. No serious discussion of federal, state, or local policy toward incentives should take place without taking account of their findings. Economic development researchers should consider this book a basic reference tool. Economic developers who want to know what the competition is doing should also find this book to be essential reading." –Timothy J. Bartik, W.E. Upjohn Institute