A modern economic war has been waged between states since Mississippi first dangled exclusive incentives in front of northern manufacturers in the hope of luring them south during the Great Depression. The war has been fought over jobs.
Since then, state and local units of government have birthed a long series of incentive programs for industry and businesses that are typically sold as a way to create new or save old jobs. These programs include, but are not limited to, selective offerings of property tax abatements, business tax credits, low interest loans and outright subsidies. Some states have programs that actually allow businesses to keep a percentage of their employees’ personal income taxes.
Are these programs effective? Do their costs outweigh their benefits?
In our joint program with National Review Institute Kevin Hassett and Mike LaFaive will discuss these questions and more, describe academic and other literature on the subject, discuss development pitfalls and offer solutions to incentive program shortcomings.
This event will take place virtually on Tuesday, September 22, at 1 p.m. EDT. Joe Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, will share opening remarks and then will be followed by our featured speakers.
To RSVP and receive access to the forum, please register below.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
1:00 p.m. EDT
Online virtual program
To join, please RSVP
Call our Events office at
Registration is closed.
Kevin Hassett is senior advisor to National Review Capital Matters. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Vice President of the Lindsey Group. Hassett served as the 29th Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers beginning in 2017 and rejoined the White House this spring as Senior Advisor to the President. Prior to his White House service, Hassett was the research director at the American Enterprise Institute for many years. He also served as a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and as an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, as well as a visiting professor at New York University’s Law School. He has been an advisor for many presidential campaigns and has contributed regular columns to National Review for almost 20 years.
Michael LaFaive is senior director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative with the Mackinac Center and the co-author of five rigorous, Michigan-specific studies on the subject of state economic development policy. The most recent of these was released August 13 and was titled: “Economic Development? State Handouts and Jobs: A New Look at the Evidence.”
An engineer by training, Joseph G. Lehman joined the Mackinac Center in 1995 and was named president in 2008. During his tenure Michigan has seen numerous free-market policy advances in education, labor and state fiscal affairs. Frequently published in national and state media, Lehman also has trained more than 600 public policy executives internationally on strategic leadership and communications. He and his wife are founders of Midland County Habitat for Humanity.
