Doctoral Dissertation Research: Geographically Targeted Economic Development Incentives and Business Outcomes: Evidence from the Enterprise Zone Programs

为了应对美国许多城市地区日益恶化的状况，州和地方的一项共同政策倡议是提供税收和其他商业激励措施，旨在吸引或留住这些贫困地区的企业。近几十年来，出现了各种自主的、地理上有针对性的倡议，通常被称为企业区。不同州的企业园区在一些重要方面存在很大差异：向园区企业提供的奖励的类型和资金慷慨程度、选择被指定为企业园区的目标区域的标准以及获得企业园区奖励的企业资格规则。原则上，不同州最近的经验可以被视为一次自然的实验，从中可以吸取宝贵的经验教训，以完善未来的地方经济发展工具。这一博士论文研究项目将对国有企业园区政策对私营企业选址和生产决策的影响进行比较实证研究。该分析将结合有关国家支持的企业园区的区位和激励组合的信息，以及关于经济结果的面板数据。结果数据既包括关于地点、投入组合、就业和工资的机构级数据，也包括全国经济活动的人口普查区级汇总数据。回归分析将用于比较有无开发区的地方的业务结果。将使用不同的计量经济学方法来控制各州在指定之前在经济活力有限的地区指定区域的趋势。通过审查具有地理针对性的激励措施是否能够振兴社区和刺激经济增长，该项目将有助于了解当地经济的空间动态。它还将让政策制定者更好地了解哪些激励措施效果最好，是否某些领域比其他地区更适合企业园区解决方案，以及园区激励措施是否倾向于受到特定行业的企业青睐。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

In response to deteriorating conditions in many U.S. urban areas, a common state and local policy initiative has been the provision of tax and other business incentives aimed at attracting or retaining businesses in these distressed areas. Over recent decades, a large variety of autonomous, geographically targeted initiatives, commonly referred to as enterprise zones, have emerged. The enterprise zones of different states vary considerably over a number of important dimensions: the type and the monetary generosity of the incentives offered to zone businesses, the criteria for selecting the targeted areas designated as enterprise zones, and the business eligibility rules to receive the enterprise zone incentives. In principle, the recent experience of different states can be thought of as a natural experiment from which valuable lessons can be learned to refine future local economic development tools. This doctoral dissertation research project will be a comparative empirical study of the impact of state enterprise zone policies on the location and production decisions of private firms. The analysis will combine information on the location and incentive mix of state-sponsored enterprise zones with panel data on economic outcomes. The outcomes data include both establishment-level data on location, input mixes, employment and wages as well as census tract level aggregates of economic activity for the entire nation. Regression analysis will be used to compare business outcomes in places with and without zones. Different econometric methods will be used to control for the tendency of states to designate zones in locations with limited economic vitality prior to designation. By examining whether geographically targeted incentives can revitalize communities and stimulate economic growth, this project will contribute to the understanding of the spatial dynamics of local economies. It will also give policy makers a better understanding of which incentives work best, whether some areas are better suited for enterprise zone solutions than others, and whether zone incentives tend to be favored by businesses of a particular industry. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.