Review
With this book, Tim Bartik has solidified his rank as the leading, trusted expert on economic development incentives and economic development broadly. The role of firm-based incentives has triggered passionate debate, and Bartik responds with rigor, reason, and realism. I hope readers heed the call for needed reforms recommended in this timely book. --Amy Liu, vice president and director, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program
Economic development incentives are one of the biggest boondoggles of our time, draining away tens of billions of dollars of precious taxpayer dollars, with some states and cities offering as much as $7 billion to lure Amazon s much-ballyhooed HQ2. No one understands the intricacies of economic development incentives what works and what does not and the broader field of economic development policy and strategy better than Tim Bartik. This book is an absolute must read for mayors, governors, economic developers, city-builders, CEOs and business executives, community activists, and all those concerned about the future of our cities and communities. --Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, and university professor at the University of Toronto
This book needed to be written and Tim Bartik needed to write it. Using clear, simple language and solid, empirical evidence he s collected over decades of close observation, Bartik explains how state and local policymakers can make smart decisions about business incentives, bringing real benefits to their communities and avoiding the next Foxconn. --Jared Bernstein served as chief economist to former Vice President Joe Biden, and is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
About the Author
Timothy J. Bartik is a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute. His research focuses on state and local economic development and local labor markets. Bartik s 1991 book, Who Benefits from State and Local Economic Development Policies?, is widely cited as an important and influential review of the evidence on how local policies affect economic development. His most recent research includes a 2017 report outlining a new database on business incentives offered by state and local governments, a 2018 report on the benefits and costs of incentives, another 2018 report on how to help manufacturing-intensive communities, and a 2019 paper on how place-based policies can promote overall economic growth. Bartik is coeditor of the academic journal Economic Development Quarterly, which focuses on state and local economic development issues. He received his BA from Yale University and his PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Prior to joining the Upjohn Institute in 1989, he was an assistant professor of economics at Vanderbilt University.
