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Economic Development

A crowd of people walk down the street in New York City

Immigration

What the U.S. Should Learn From China's Population Decline

The U.S. remains the top destination for the world's immigrants—but it must be careful not to squander its immigration advantage.

Fiona Harrigan | 1.24.2023 3:00 PM

An overhead view of the assembly line at the Rivian auto plant in Normal, Illinois.

Electric cars

Free Market Think Tank Names Georgia Electric Vehicle Plant the 'Worst Economic Development Deal of 2022'

Rivian, an electric truck manufacturer that hopes to compete with Tesla, received a lucrative deal to build a new factory in Georgia despite concerns about its finances.

Joe Lancaster | 12.28.2022 10:00 AM

minissimnimby

Video Games

Review: Try and Fail To Build a Virtual City in Sim Nimby

Eventually the player realizes nothing is getting built and quits.

Christian Britschgi | 12.2.2022 6:00 AM

Politicians including Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden are responsible for bullying homeowners off their land near Syracuse, New York, to clear the way for a massive new semiconductor manufacturing plant.

Biden Administration

Biden's 'Made In America' Plan Is Bullying Homeowners Off Their Land to Build a Taxpayer-Subsidized Chip Plant

The president has touted a factory jobs boom. In practice, that means forcing people out of their homes to benefit corporate projects that rely on billions of dollars of subsidies.

Eric Boehm | 11.16.2022 11:30 AM

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Los Angeles

Neighbors Won't Let Decaying L.A. French Restaurant Die, Despite Owner's Wishes

Cruel NIMBYism hides in call for historic preservation.

Scott Shackford | 6.2.2021 2:30 PM

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Free Trade

Africa Tries Free Trade

Liberal ideas are beginning to gain traction on the world's poorest continent.

Alexander C.R. Hammond | 3.30.2021 6:00 AM

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Economic Development

Wisconsin's Foxconn Boondoggle Looks Worse Than Ever

President Donald Trump and Gov. Scott Walker promised thousands of jobs in return for billions of dollars in subsidies from the state. More than two years later, there's little to show for it.

Eric Boehm | 10.20.2020 11:05 AM

Exit, Voice, and Loyalty 2

Volokh Conspiracy

Cato Unbound Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of Albert Hirschman's Classic Book "Exit, Voice, and Loyalty" [Updated]

The symposium includes contributions by Adam Thierer, Mikayla Novak, Max Borders, and myself. The relationship between exit and voice is as important an issue as ever.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 8.18.2020 3:42 PM

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History

COVID-19 and the Collapse of Complex Societies

Stephen Davies | 6.2.2020 6:00 AM

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Coronavirus

When Businesses Die, Bringing Back Their Services Won't Always Be Possible

Event production is one of the less visible victims of the virus. Recreating their services when such companies die won't be easy.

Brian Doherty | 4.8.2020 11:30 AM

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Brickbats

Brickbat: A Change in Plans

Charles Oliver | 3.20.2020 4:00 AM

Burying

Economic Development

Wisconsin's Massive Foxconn Boondoggle Is Getting Worse

The Taiwan-based tech company promised to open "innovation centers" in several cities around the state. But now those are on hold, too.

Eric Boehm | 10.24.2019 4:10 PM

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Crony Capitalism

California Might Resurrect Redevelopment Agencies That Were Wasteful Exercises in Corporate Welfare

Milton Friedman famously observed that "nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The rare demise of a government program, it seems, is temporary too.

Steven Greenhut | 8.30.2019 12:30 AM

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Brickbats

Brickbat: Open Government

Charles Oliver | 8.29.2019 4:00 AM

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Film Subsidies

Deceptive Data Make Georgia's Film Tax Credit Program Look Less Wasteful

Economists debunk the state government's claims about the size of the film industry.

Alex Muresianu | 7.1.2019 4:25 PM

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Subsidies

Kansas City Uses Bad Research To Justify Corporate Welfare

A local development study didn't evaluate whether government incentives had anything to do with a business's decision to invest.

Alex Muresianu | 6.20.2019 11:35 AM

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Property Rights

They Said This Law Would Fix Blighted Neighborhoods. Instead It's Being Used to Steal People's Homes

And the Pennsylvania state lawmaker who wrote the law is now the judge who hears a lot of the cases.

Eric Boehm | 4.12.2019 3:20 PM

Immigration

Bryan Caplan's New Book on Open Borders

It should be of great interest to anyone who follows debates over immigration.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.8.2019 12:10 PM

Large image for longform feature pages.

Baseball

These Three Cities Spent $70 Million on Stadiums to Lure Minor League Baseball Teams. They All Struck Out.

Across the country, minor league teams are exploiting civic enthusiasm for small town sports.

Eric Boehm | 4.1.2019 10:15 AM

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Oregon

Green Nonprofit Got $1.3 Million Grant to Create Five Jobs

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on Oregon's economic development agency.

Eric Boehm | 2.5.2019 10:50 AM

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Wisconsin

Foxconn Is 'Not Building a Factory' in Wisconsin Despite Billions in Taxpayer Subsidies

Foxconn is reconsidering its plans to build a manufacturing facility that was supposed to create 13,000 blue collar jobs.

Eric Boehm | 1.30.2019 1:30 PM

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stadiums

Taxpayers Will Pay $1 Million to Tear Down $18 Million Baseball Stadium That Predictably Failed to Rejuvenate Camden

The stadium never turned a profit and the team skipped town when local officials decided to start charging rent.

Eric Boehm | 12.5.2018 12:35 PM

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Economic Development

Private Train Cars, Murder Task Forces, Captain Kirk: Cities Offered Amazon Some Weird Shit

But none of it is a substitute for developing a robust and vibrant economy. And neither is landing a single big employer like Amazon.

Eric Boehm | 11.15.2018 3:40 PM

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Amazon

Amazon Snags $2 Billion in Bribes and Tax Credits From New York and Virginia

But Amazon's decision to put it's new headquarters in Arlington and Queens also shows it wasn't all about the money.

Eric Boehm | 11.13.2018 1:50 PM

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Wisconsin

Scott Walker's Foxconn Boondoggle Is Now Subsidizing Imported Chinese Workers

Looks like Scott Walker got Foxconned

Eric Boehm | 11.6.2018 3:15 PM

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Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters Are Destroying a Lower Percentage of Humanity's Stuff Since 1990

Absolute losses increased, but the proportion of losses relative to global GDP has dropped

Ronald Bailey | 11.5.2018 2:30 PM

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Employee Ownership

Can Laundry and Lettuce Save Cleveland?

A worker-owned co-op that even a capitalist could love is washing linens for the Cleveland Clinic and growing vegetables for the city.

Daniel McGraw | 10.21.2018 6:00 AM

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Reasontv

Hernando de Soto Knows How To Make the Third World Richer than the First

The Peruvian economist says blockchain technologies and social media will transform the planet by securing property rights.

Nick Gillespie, Todd Krainin, and Ian Keyser | 7.13.2018 4:37 PM

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Economic Development

Climate Change Problems Will Be Solved Through Economic Growth

"How bad will climate change be? Not very."

Ronald Bailey | 3.12.2018 2:45 PM

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Malthusianism

Is Degrowth the Only Way to Save the World?

Welcome to the latest gussied up version of Malthusian eco-pessimism!

Ronald Bailey | 2.16.2018 12:02 PM

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stadiums

The Nanny State vs. The Nanny Goat

Peak goat is finally achieved as goat yoga appears in a taxpayer-subsidized, goat-themed baseball stadium.

Todd Krainin | 12.12.2017 4:45 PM

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Amazon

Desperate Mayors Compete for Amazon HQ2 (Sketch)

Local politicians clash as they try to lure Amazon's new headquarters to their towns.

Austin Bragg and Andrew Heaton | 11.3.2017 3:30 PM

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Amazon

Amazon's Second HQ Attracts 238 Bids From Cities Eager to 'Give Away the Farm'

In the race to shower Amazon with economic development cash, the only winning move is not to play-as San Antonio has decided to do.

Eric Boehm | 10.23.2017 4:45 PM

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Donald Trump

Trump Proposes Awful-Sounding 'Economic Development Bill' That Might Not Actually Exist

Is it just more bluster from the White House? Let's hope so.

Eric Boehm | 10.10.2017 3:47 PM

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Government Spending

This Column Will Pay For Itself!

The notion that a dollar of government spending can yield more than a dollar in savings, "paying for itself," is absurd.

A. Barton Hinkle | 9.13.2017 11:30 AM

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