IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/121223.html

Louisville’s Economic Opportunity Zones: A Rerun of the Old Louisville Enterprise Zone Program?

Author

Listed:
  • Lambert, Thomas

Abstract

In 2017 the US Congress passes and President Donald J. Trump signs the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Part of the legislation allows states to create economic opportunity zones (EOZs), census tracts which will be targeted for business investment and economic development through federal tax incentives. In Louisville, Kentucky, as in other jurisdictions throughout the US over the last several decades, special district “zones” have been used by local, state, and/or the federal government(s) to try to revive low-income, deteriorated, and blighted areas. These have been typically urban areas but sometimes have included semi-rural and rural areas. Whether named enterprise zones, empowerment zones, or currently, economic opportunity zones, such programs have received mixed reviews over the years. This paper looks at the current EOZs in Louisville, and similar to other studies looking at EOZs, finds only slight improvement at best so far in results. The exception is an area of the city that has been undergoing a great deal of gentrification already. With this in mind, and with the shortcomings chronicled on the old Louisville enterprise zone (EZ) that exists from 1983 to 2003, this paper speculates on and offers some reasons for why such economic development efforts, despite their mixed reviews, persist.

Suggested Citation

  • Lambert, Thomas, 2024. "Louisville’s Economic Opportunity Zones: A Rerun of the Old Louisville Enterprise Zone Program?," MPRA Paper 121223, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:121223
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/121223/2/MPRA_paper_121223.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hokey Min & Thomas E. Lambert, 2010. "The utilisation of foreign trade zones in the global supply chain: an exploratory study," International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 110-125.
    2. 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.
    3. Freedman, Matthew & Khanna, Shantanu & Neumark, David, 2023. "JUE Insight: The Impacts of Opportunity Zones on Zone Residents," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Alan Sage & Mike Langen & Alex van de Minne, 2023. "Where is the opportunity in opportunity zones?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(2), pages 338-371, March.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. James R. Barth & Yanfei Sun & Shen Zhang, 2021. "Opportunity zones: do tax benefits go to the most distressed communities?," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 301-316, April.
    9. Sumei Zhang, 2020. "Do Research Methods Matter in Enterprise Zone Outcome Evaluations?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 34(3), pages 299-309, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sumei Zhang, 2015. "Impacts of Enterprise Zone Policy on Industry Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(4), pages 347-362, November.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Devon Lynch & Jeffrey S. Zax, 2011. "Incidence and Substitution in Enterprise Zone Programs: The Case of Colorado," Public Finance Review, , vol. 39(2), pages 226-255, March.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Alan Sage & Mike Langen & Alex van de Minne, 2023. "Where is the opportunity in opportunity zones?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(2), pages 338-371, March.
    9. Stephen Billings, 2009. "Do Enterprise Zones Work?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(1), pages 68-93, January.
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9je5h30d2n is not listed on IDEAS
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. James Alm & Trey Dronyk‐Trosper & Sean Larkin, 2024. "Do opportunity zones create opportunities? The impact of opportunity zones on real estate prices," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 214-238, January.
    14. 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.
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9je5h30d2n is not listed on IDEAS
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Krupka, Douglas J. & Noonan, Douglas S., 2009. "Neighborhood Dynamics and the Housing Price Effects of Spatially Targeted Economic Development Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 4308, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Pender, John & Reeder, Richard, "undated". "Impacts of Regional Approaches to Rural Development: Initial Evidence on the Delta Regional Authority," Economic Research Report 262240, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. 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.
    21. Pauline Givord, 2011. "Essay on four issues in public policy evaluation [Essai sur quatre problèmes d’évaluation de politiques publiques]," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) tel-04049492, HAL.
    22. Atkins, Rachel M.B. & Hernández-Lagos, Pablo & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Seamans, Robert, 2023. "JUE Insight: What is the impact of opportunity zones on job postings?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:121223. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.