December 30, 2024 – The Center for Economic Accountability has given its “Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year Award” for 2024 to Charlotte, N.C.’s city government for its deal to spend $650 million of public funds on renovations to Bank of America Stadium. The privately owned stadium is home to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers … Continue reading Charlotte’s Football Stadium Renovations Named 2024’s “Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year” by The Center for Economic Accountability
News
Cato Daily Podcast: The State-Run Corporate Handouts That Help Politicians and Harm Taxpayers
On the Cato Daily Podcast this week, CEA President John Mozena, Cato Institute Senior Fellow and Cato Daily Podcast host Caleb O. Brown discussed the ways that state and local economic development subsidies are more focused on Election Day 'job creation' for the politicians who control them than they are on any actual economic factors … Continue reading Cato Daily Podcast: The State-Run Corporate Handouts That Help Politicians and Harm Taxpayers
Tampa Bay Times column: Stadium subsidies are bad deals for communities like St. Petersburg
Ahead of the Pinellas County Commission vote on a massive baseball stadium subsidy for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Tampa Bay Times gave CEA President John Mozena more than double their usual op-ed space to make the case against the deal: If there’s a market-driven demand for development in an area, a stadium isn’t necessary. … Continue reading Tampa Bay Times column: Stadium subsidies are bad deals for communities like St. Petersburg
Column in National Review: Adam Smith’s Economic-Development Formula
In National Review's Capital Matters, the CEA's John Mozena marked the publishing anniversary of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" by pointing out how Smith's 1755 recipe for national prosperity is still a valid economic development policy in the modern day: "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from … Continue reading Column in National Review: Adam Smith’s Economic-Development Formula
America Began with a Battle Against Corporate Welfare
By John C. Mozena On a cold Boston night 250 years ago today, Americans started down the path to revolution by standing up against corporate welfare. Young Americans are taught in elementary school that the Boston Tea Party took place because the American colonials were “mad about the tax on tea.” The reality, however, is … Continue reading America Began with a Battle Against Corporate Welfare