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Analyzing firm location decisions: is public intervention justified?

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  • Owens, Raymond E.
  • Sarte, Pierre-Daniel

Abstract

This paper develops a two-region model of firm migration where moving is costly and firms have market power. In this setting, the decentralized equilibrium generates excessive inertia in firm movement relative to the 'first best' solution. Because the decentralized solution is inefficient, the widespread notion that inducing firm movement between regions yield no net social gain does not necessarily hold. That is, firm migration does not amount to a 'zero sum.' Moreover, given the presence of inertia, and contrary to the prevalent view, we show that targeted subsidies that alleviate moving costs can lead to a 'second best' outcome. We also show that once a dynamic dimension is considered, moving cost subsidies, while potentially welfare improving in a present value sense, may nevertheless generate transitional welfare costs in the short run. Consequently, it may be especially misleading to mainly consider contemporaneous conditions in evaluating regional incentive programs.
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  • Owens, Raymond E. & Sarte, Pierre-Daniel, 2002. "Analyzing firm location decisions: is public intervention justified?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 223-242, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:86:y:2002:i:2:p:223-242
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    1. Owens, Raymond E. & Sarte, Pierre-Daniel, 2002. "Analyzing firm location decisions: is public intervention justified?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 223-242, November.
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    5. Ruben Hernandez-Murillo, 2014. "Interjurisdictional Competition and Location Decisions of Firms," Working Papers 2014-36, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    6. Alice M. Rivlin, 1996. "An economic war," The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 10(Jun), pages 20-25.
    7. Carlton, Dennis W, 1983. "The Location and Employment Choices of New Firms: An Econometric Model with Discrete and Continuous Endogenous Variables," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(3), pages 440-449, August.
    8. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Dupont & Philippe Martin, 2006. "Subsidies to poor regions and inequalities: some unpleasant arithmetic," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 223-240, April.
    2. Hernández-Murillo, Rubén, 2019. "Interjurisdictional competition with adverse selection," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 85-95.
    3. Owens, Raymond E. & Sarte, Pierre-Daniel, 2002. "Analyzing firm location decisions: is public intervention justified?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 223-242, November.
    4. Robert Alexander & Rui-cong Sang & Sajid Anwar, 2016. "Regional Policy and Industrial Relocation in China: A Panel Data Analysis," EcoMod2016 9277, EcoMod.
    5. Ruicong Sang & W. Robert J. Alexander & Sajid Anwar, 2023. "Policy Drivers of Inter-Regional Investment in China," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-23, May.
    6. Leonard F. S. Wang & Domenico Buccella, 2020. "Location decision of managerial firms in an unconstrained Hotelling model," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 318-332, July.

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