With the news that Amazon was pausing construction of its Arlington, VA HQ2 project, CEA President John Mozena writes in National Review that residents of hundreds of cities across America should be glad that Amazon hadn't gone with any of the ludicrously large proposals that were submitted by local politicians and bureaucrats who seized the … Continue reading Column in National Review: Losing Amazon’s HQ2 Was a Blessing
CEA Interview in Site Selection Magazine
Last year, Site Selection Magazine chose Apple's new R&D campus in North Carolina as one of its "Top Deals of 2021." That's the same $846 million subsidy deal that the CEA called the "Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year." In an effort to dig into the disconnect between the two recognitions, Site Selection Managing … Continue reading CEA Interview in Site Selection Magazine
Op-ed in The Hill: Frustrated by a corporate handout ‘Groundhog Day’? Blame the American Rescue Plan.
Across America, states are taking federal dollars meant to support the recovery from the COVID pandemic and using them instead to fund massive economic development subsidy deals. In a column in The Hill today, CEA President John C. Mozena and Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Michael D. Farren had a simple message: "We hate to … Continue reading Op-ed in The Hill: Frustrated by a corporate handout ‘Groundhog Day’? Blame the American Rescue Plan.
Article in City Journal: Back to Basics for NYC
New York City's economic development model was already out of date even before the pandemic accelerated the broad move away from the workforce model of big offices in big buildings filled with lots of well-paid people working at expensive desks. That hadn't been keeping the city's leaders from doubling down on expensive subsidies, though, writes … Continue reading Article in City Journal: Back to Basics for NYC
Detroit News op-ed with Good Jobs First: How economic development is killing Michigan school funding
Our friends at Good Jobs First have been fighting corporate welfare from the leftward side of America's political spectrum for many years, specializing in doing the hard and necessary work of data collection and analysis. Their Tax Break Tracker is an invaluable tool for anyone involved in economic development policy reform. Recently, CEA President John … Continue reading Detroit News op-ed with Good Jobs First: How economic development is killing Michigan school funding