The competition among cities to woo Amazon’s new headquarters brought national attention to the use and abuse of economic development subsidies, but the practice is not new.
In fact, the value of such subsidies is staggering and seems to show no signs of slowing. This discussion would help quantify the amount of subsidies, how cities benefit, and how public policy can be changed to improve outcomes for taxpayers.
Patrick Tuohey welcomes guests Heywood Sanders, Professor of Public Administration at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and Michael Lefaive, Senior Director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.