IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fth/harver/1932.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Economics of Location-Based Tax Incentives

Author

Listed:
  • Edward L. Glaeser

Abstract

Many local governments offer rich tax deals to firms to get these firms to come to their cities. In this brief essay, I review the economics of location-based tax incentives. I first address the positive economics of these incentives and present five theories of why these tax incentives occur. I then consider the normative aspects of these incentives and discuss the conditions under which these theories lead to optimal locations of firms and to optimal bundles of public goods. In general, I argue that tax incentives will generally lead to more efficient locational decisions. There may be undesirable redistributional consequences of these incentives, but these are best handled by national redistribution policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward L. Glaeser, 2001. "The Economics of Location-Based Tax Incentives," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1932, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:fth:harver:1932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/pub/hier/2001/HIER1932.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brennan,Geoffrey & Buchanan,James M., 2006. "The Power to Tax," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521027922, September.
    2. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-95-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Glaeser, Edward L & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1126-1152, December.
      • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Kallal, Hedi D. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Scholarly Articles 3451309, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Wilson, John D., 1986. "A theory of interregional tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 296-315, May.
    5. Glaeser, Edward L. & Scheinkman, JoseA. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1995. "Economic growth in a cross-section of cities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-143, August.
    6. Rauch James E., 1993. "Productivity Gains from Geographic Concentration of Human Capital: Evidence from the Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 380-400, November.
    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. Strauss-Kahn, Vanessa & Vives, Xavier, 2009. "Why and where do headquarters move?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 168-186, March.
    2. Nathan Jensen & Edmund Malesky & Matthew Walsh, 2015. "Competing for global capital or local voters? The politics of business location incentives," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 331-356, September.
    3. Moretti, Enrico & Wilson, Daniel J., 2014. "State incentives for innovation, star scientists and jobs: Evidence from biotech," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 20-38.
    4. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2010. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 536-598, June.
    5. Patrick Kline & Enrico Moretti, 2014. "People, Places, and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 629-662, August.
    6. Tania Babina & Sabrina T. Howell, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Spillovers from Corporate R&D," NBER Working Papers 25360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Jordi Jofre-Monseny & Maria Sánchez-Vidal & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2018. "Big plant closures and local employment," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 163-186.
    8. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2008. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Million Dollar Plants," Working Paper series 36_08, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    9. Sungur Onur, 2019. "Spatial Distribution of Investment Incentives and the Impact of New Incentive System for Less Developed Regions in Turkey," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 19(1), pages 25-48, March.
    10. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2010. "Bidding for Investment Projects: Smart Public Policy or Corporate Welfare?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 36(s1), pages 31-48, April.
    11. Rigas Ioannis & Theodossiou George & Rigas Nikolaos & Karelakis Christos & Pantos Nikolaos & Goulas Αpostolos, 2019. "Analysis and critical investigation of the financial statements of food sector companies in Thessaly Region (Greece) that were included in the investment development programs the period 2013-2016," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 12(2), pages 52-71, December.
    12. Cailin R. Slattery & Owen M. Zidar, 2020. "Evaluating State and Local Business Tax Incentives," NBER Working Papers 26603, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Evert Meijers & Martijn Burger & Mark Thissen & Thomas Graaff & Frank Oort, 2016. "Competitive network positions in trade and structural economic growth: A geographically weighted regression analysis for European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 159-180, March.
    14. Michael Greenstone & Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Bidding for Industrial Plants: Does Winning a 'Million Dollar Plant' Increase Welfare?," NBER Working Papers 9844, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. 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.
    16. Kaitlyn R. Harger & Amanda Ross & Heather M. Stephens, 2015. "What Matters More for Economic Development, the Amount of Funding or the Number of Projects Funded? Evidence from the Community Development Financial Investment Fund," Working Papers 15-51, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    17. repec:rre:publsh:v:36:y:2006:i:1:p:15-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Amanda Ross & Kaitlyn Wolf, 2014. "Do Market-Based Tax Incentives Attract New Businesses? Evidence from the New Markets Tax Credit," ERSA conference papers ersa14p653, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Chaurey, Ritam, 2017. "Location-based tax incentives: Evidence from India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 101-120.
    20. Kaitlyn Harger & Amanda Ross, 2016. "Do Capital Tax Incentives Attract New Businesses? Evidence Across Industries From The New Markets Tax Credit," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(5), pages 733-753, November.

    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. Michael Greenstone & Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Bidding for Industrial Plants: Does Winning a 'Million Dollar Plant' Increase Welfare?," NBER Working Papers 9844, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Teresa Garcia-Milà & Therese J. McGuire, 2001. "Tax incentives and the city," Economics Working Papers 631, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2001.
    3. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    4. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.
    5. Edward L. Glaeser, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-160, Spring.
    6. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    7. Aurélie LALANNE & Guillaume POUYANNE, 2012. "Ten years of metropolization in economics: a bibliometric approach (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    8. Belal Fallah & Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2014. "Geography and High-Tech Employment Growth in US Counties," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 683-720.
    9. Rebecca Bradley & Joshua S. Gans, 1998. "Growth in Australian Cities," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 74(226), pages 266-278, September.
    10. Viktor A. Venhorst, 2017. "Human capital spillovers in Dutch cities: consumption or productivity?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(3), pages 793-817, November.
    11. Südekum, Jens, 2008. "Convergence of the skill composition across German regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 148-159, March.
    12. Bun Song Lee & Kim Sosin & Sung Hyo Hong, 2005. "Sectoral Manufacturing Productivity Growth in Korean Regions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(7), pages 1201-1219, June.
    13. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2010. "The Varieties of Regional Change," Working Papers 472, Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Mori, Tomoya & Turrini, Alessandro, 2005. "Skills, agglomeration and segmentation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 201-225, January.
    15. Mario Polèse, 2005. "Cities and National Economic Growth: A Reappraisal," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(8), pages 1429-1451, July.
    16. Simon, Curtis J. & Nardinelli, Clark, 2002. "Human capital and the rise of American cities, 1900-1990," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 59-96, January.
    17. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2014. "Cities, Skills and Regional Change," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 7-43, January.
    18. Chein, Flávia & Assunção, Juliano Junqueira & Lemos, Mauro Borges, 2009. "Custos de Transporte, Urbanização e Desenvolvimento: Evidências a Partir da Criação de Cidades," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 63(3), August.
    19. Zoltan J Acs & Catherine Armington, 2003. "The Geographic Concentration of New Firm Formation and Human Capital: Evidence from the Cities," Working Papers 03-05, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    20. Zoltan J. Acs & Catherine Armington, 2008. "The Impact of Geographic Differences in Human Capital on Service Firm Formation Rates," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 19, pages 244-278, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    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:fth:harver:1932. 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: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ieharus.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.