IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/03-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Tax Incentives Affect Local Economic Growth? What Mean Impacts Miss in the Analysis of Enterprise Zone Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Daniele Bondonio

Abstract

Geographically-targeted tax incentives remain popular initiatives in response to deteriorating economic conditions of urban and industrial areas. This paper exploits the exogenous variations of the U.S. state Enterprise Zone programs to estimate the impact of various incentive features on a number of dimensions of local economic growth. The econometric analysis uses plant level data to sort out growth outcomes into gross flows separately accounted for by new, existing, and vanishing businesses in the target areas. Results offer empirical evidence to support a number of specific policy recommendations and show that the impact of the incentives has more complex dynamics than those revealed by the null mean impact estimates obtained from analyzing net growth outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniele Bondonio, 2003. "Do Tax Incentives Affect Local Economic Growth? What Mean Impacts Miss in the Analysis of Enterprise Zone Policies," Working Papers 03-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
  • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:03-17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2003/CES-WP-03-17.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2003
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bondonio, Daniele & Engberg, John, 2000. "Enterprise zones and local employment: evidence from the states' programs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 519-549, September.
    2. Terry F. Buss, 2001. "The Effect of State Tax Incentives on Economic Growth and Firm Location Decisions: An Overview of the Literature," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(1), pages 90-105, February.
    3. Papke, Leslie E., 1994. "Tax policy and urban development : Evidence from the Indiana enterprise zone program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 37-49, May.
    4. Timothy J. Bartik, 1991. "Who Benefits from State and Local Economic Development Policies?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number wbsle, November.
    5. Thomas E. Lambert & Paul A. Coomes, 2001. "An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Louisville’s Enterprise Zone," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(2), pages 168-180, May.
    6. Heckman, J.J. & Hotz, V.J., 1988. "Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods For Estimating The Impact Of Social Programs: The Case Of Manpower Training," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 88-12, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
    7. Timothy J. Bartik & Richard D. Bingham, 1997. "Can Economic Development Programs be Evaluated?," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Richard D. Bingham & Robert Mier (ed.),Dilemmas of Urban Economic Development, pages 246-290, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Boarnet, Marlon G. & Bogart, William T., 1996. "Enterprise Zones and Employment: Evidence from New Jersey," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 198-215, September.
    9. Leslie E. Papke, 1993. "What Do We Know about Enterprise Zones?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 7, pages 37-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Peter S. Fisher & Alan H. Peters, 1998. "Industrial Incentives: Competition among American Cities and States," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ii, November.
    11. Marlon G. Boarnet, 2001. "Enterprise Zones and Job Creation: Linking Evaluation and Practice," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(3), pages 242-254, August.
    12. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    13. Timothy J. Bartik, 2003. "Local Economic Development Policies," Upjohn Working Papers 03-91, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    14. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 1998. "Causal Effects in Non-Experimental Studies: Re-Evaluating the Evaluation of Training Programs," NBER Working Papers 6586, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Alan H. Peters & Peter S. Fisher, 2002. "State Enterprise Zone Programs: Have They Worked?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number sezp, November.
    16. Rick L. Williams, 2000. "A Note on Robust Variance Estimation for Cluster-Correlated Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 645-646, June.
    17. Timothy J. Bartik, 2000. "Solving the Many Problems with Inner City Jobs," Upjohn Working Papers 00-66, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    18. Robert Greenbaum & John Engberg, 2000. "An Evaluation Of State Enterprise Zone Policies," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 17(2‐3), pages 29-45, June.
    19. Robinson, Chris, 1989. "The Joint Determination of Union Status and Union Wage Effects: Some Tests of Alternative Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 639-667, June.
    20. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matias Busso & Patrick Kline, 2008. "Do Local Economic Development Programs Work? Evidence from the Federal Empowerment Zone Program," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1639, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. Zenou, Yves, 2013. "Spatial versus social mismatch," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 113-132.
    3. Piotr Ciżkowicz & Magda Ciżkowicz-Pękała & Piotr Pękała & Andrzej Rzońca, 2017. "The effects of special economic zones on employment and investment: a spatial panel modeling perspective," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 571-605.
    4. Rachel Meltzer & Jenny Schuetz, 2010. "Bodegas or Bagel Shops? Neighborhood Differences in Retail & Household Services," Working Paper 33, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    5. Thierry MAYER & Florian MAYNERIS & Loriane PY, 2012. "The Impact of Urban Enterprise Zones on Establishments' Location Decisions: Evidence from French ZFUs," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2012019, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    6. Matias Busso & Jesse Gregory & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Assessing the Incidence and Efficiency of a Prominent Place Based Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 897-947, April.
    7. Rachel Meltzer & Jenny Schuetz, 2012. "Bodegas or Bagel Shops? Neighborhood Differences in Retail and Household Services," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(1), pages 73-94, February.
    8. Cizkowicz, Piotr & Cizkowicz-Pekala, Magda & Pekala, Piotr & Rzonca, Andrzej, 2015. "The Effects of Polish Special Economic Zones on Employment and Investment: Spatial Panel Modelling Perspective," MPRA Paper 63176, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bondonio, Daniele & Engberg, John, 2000. "Enterprise zones and local employment: evidence from the states' programs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 519-549, September.
    2. Krupka, Douglas J. & Noonan, Douglas S., 2009. "Empowerment Zones, neighborhood change and owner-occupied housing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 386-396, July.
    3. Bondonio, Daniele & Greenbaum, Robert T., 2007. "Do local tax incentives affect economic growth? What mean impacts miss in the analysis of enterprise zone policies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 121-136, January.
    4. Matias Busso & Patrick Kline, 2008. "Do Local Economic Development Programs Work? Evidence from the Federal Empowerment Zone Program," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1639, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    5. Sumei Zhang, 2019. "Rethinking U.S. enterprise zones: The role of research design in program evaluation," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(6), pages 545-571, September.
    6. Krupka, Douglas J. & Noonan, Douglas S., 2009. "Neighborhood Dynamics and the Housing Price Effects of Spatially Targeted Economic Development Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 4308, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Sumei Zhang, 2015. "Impacts of Enterprise Zone Policy on Industry Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(4), pages 347-362, November.
    8. Robert T. Greenbaum & Jim Landers, 2009. "Why Are State Policy Makers Still Proponents of Enterprise Zones? What Explains Their Action in the Face of a Preponderance of the Research?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(4), pages 466-479, October.
    9. Joel A. Elvery, 2009. "The Impact of Enterprise Zones on Resident Employment," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(1), pages 44-59, February.
    10. Ham, John C. & Swenson, Charles & Imrohoroglu, Ayse & Song, Heonjae, 2011. "Government programs can improve local labor markets: Evidence from State Enterprise Zones, Federal Empowerment Zones and Federal Enterprise Community," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 779-797, August.
    11. Nidhi Chaudhary & Jonathan Potter, 2019. "Evaluation of the local employment impacts of enterprise zones: A critique," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(10), pages 2112-2159, August.
    12. Robert T. Greenbaum, 2004. "Siting it Right: Do States Target Economic Distress When Designating Enterprise Zones?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 18(1), pages 67-80, February.
    13. Daniele Bondonio & Robert T. Greenbaum, 2003. "A comparative evaluation of spacially targeted economic revitalization programs in the European Union and the United States," ICER Working Papers 03-2003, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    14. Stephen Billings, 2009. "Do Enterprise Zones Work?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(1), pages 68-93, January.
    15. Pauline Givord, 2011. "Essay on four issues in public policy evaluation [Essai sur quatre problèmes d’évaluation de politiques publiques]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-04049492, HAL.
    16. Elias Einiö & Henry G. Overman, 2016. "The (Displacement) Effects of Spatially Targeted Enterprise Initiatives: Evidence from UK LEGI," SERC Discussion Papers 0191, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. O'Keefe, Suzanne, 2004. "Job creation in California's enterprise zones: a comparison using a propensity score matching model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 131-150, January.
    18. Moretti, Enrico, 2011. "Local Labor Markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 14, pages 1237-1313, Elsevier.
    19. Neumark, David & Kolko, Jed, 2010. "Do enterprise zones create jobs? Evidence from California's enterprise zone program," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 1-19, July.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9je5h30d2n is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9je5h30d2n is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Laura A. Reese & Minting Ye, 2011. "Policy Versus Place Luck: Achieving Local Economic Prosperity," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(3), pages 221-236, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax incentives; Local economic growth; Enterprise Zones; Program evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • R5 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:03-17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.