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Should Place-Based Jobs Policies Be Used to Help Distressed Communities?

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Abstract

Should policymakers seek to increase jobs in particular local labor markets? Yes, but only if these policies are well targeted and designed. Encouraging job growth in distressed places can cause persistent gains in employment-to-population ratios. But our current place-based jobs policies, under which state and local governments provide long-term tax incentives to megacorporations, are poorly targeted and designed. Such incentives are as large in nondistressed areas as in distressed areas, and they are excessively costly. What reforms are needed? First, job growth policies should target distressed areas. Second, tax incentives should be focused on high-multiplier businesses, such as high-tech firms. Third, officials can more effectively promote local job creation by relying less on tax incentives and more on public services. These include customized business services, infrastructure, land development policies, local education, and job training. The federal government can use taxes and intergovernmental grants to discourage city or state officials from giving excessive state and local incentives to the largest firms. The federal government can also provide block grants to state and local governments to provide services that promote job growth in distressed places.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy J. Bartik, 2019. "Should Place-Based Jobs Policies Be Used to Help Distressed Communities?," Upjohn Working Papers 19-308, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:19-308
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    Cited by:

    1. Koşar, Gizem & Ransom, Tyler & van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2022. "Understanding migration aversion using elicited counterfactual choice probabilities," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 123-147.
    2. Eriksson, Katherine & Russ, Katheryn N. & Shambaugh, Jay C. & Xu, Minfei, 2021. "Reprint: Trade shocks and the shifting landscape of U.S. manufacturing," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Eriksson, Katherine & Russ, Katheryn N. & Shambaugh, Jay C. & Xu, Minfei, 2021. "Trade shocks and the shifting landscape of U.S. manufacturing," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    4. Timothy J. Bartik, 2020. "Targeting Jobs Toward The People Who Need Them," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 854-857, June.
    5. Freedman, Matthew & Khanna, Shantanu & Neumark, David, 2023. "Combining rules and discretion in economic development policy: Evidence on the impacts of the California Competes Tax Credit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    6. Georgeanne M. Artz & Younjun Kim & Peter F. Orazem & Peter J. Han, 2021. "Which Small Towns Attract Start‐Ups and Why? Twenty Years of Evidence from Iowa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 702-720, March.
    7. Maria Abreu & Özge Öner, 2020. "Disentangling the Brexit vote: The role of economic, social and cultural contexts in explaining the UK’s EU referendum vote," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(7), pages 1434-1456, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    distressed places; regional development policies; local labor markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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