What is the record of economic development incentives?
On the three major questions -- Do economic development incentives create new jobs? Are those jobs taken by targeted populations in targeted places? Are incentives, at worst, only moderately revenue negative? -- traditional economic development incentives do not fare well. Judging the effectiveness of economic development incentives requires looking for the unseen effects as well as what is easily seen. It's easy to see the groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies that commemorate government intervention -- politicians and bureaucrats are drawn to them, and will spend taxpayer funds to make sure you're aware. It's more difficult to see that the harm…