This article explores the impact of a brownfield redevelopment initiative in the state of Michigan. Although such programs are often perceived as having a positive impact, there is remarkably little evidence beyond anecdotal examples to support such claims. The reported analysis is based on a...

In 2003, Minnesota enacted a tax-free-zone economic development program, Job Opportunity Building Zone (JOBZ), that is of a longer term and more generous than most similar state programs. In this article, the authors analyze publicly available data on the new investments in capital and labor...

In what ways do research universities interact with regional economies? The answer to this central question can be found in a framework of the interaction of university products and necessary factors for technology-based economic development. The bundled nature of university products makes it...

The targeting of economic development incentives at distressed locations or particular industries is typically justified based on equity and efficiency grounds. However, existing empirical studies fail to fully explain the distribution of incentives in a region or state because they do not...

Research to date suggests that occupation clusters may be at least as important as industry clusters in driving regional competitive advantage. A nationwide mapping of occupation clusters, with data available for every U.S. county and the capability to aggregate counties to a regional level,...

There is increasing evidence that the stock of college-educated labor in an area has fundamental effects on state and local economies through its association with wages, economic growth, personal incomes, and tax revenues. As a result, policy makers in many states attempt to increase the...

Markusen and Glasmeier offer a policy-driven road map for a restructured and revitalized federal role in economic development for the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA). A review of EDA's history and a survey of similar programs suggest that, in addition, long-term political...

Three streams of research offer results in conflict with the conclusion that governments that provide tax dollars to build sports facilities are wasting money. Hamilton and Kahn and Rosentraub and Swindell found instances where the value placed on the intangible benefits of teams could exceed...

Michael Porter's cluster theory became popular at both the academic and policy levels as well as received a series of critiques. This article provides a synthetic view of those critiques. In addition, it reveals two new fundamental limitations of the theory. First, the descriptive and static...

Public universities occupy a unique place in the R&D system of the United States because of their state-controlled missions, sources of funding, and administrative structures. State governments preferentially support public university research that benefits local industry to stimulate regional...