Author : Jed Kolko
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 28 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (722 download)
Book Synopsis Public policy, state business climates, and economic growth by : Jed Kolko
Download or read book Public policy, state business climates, and economic growth written by Jed Kolko and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: State business climate indexes are a popular means of summarizing the â??bundlesâ?? of state policies that might affect state economic growth. But the rankings of states' business climates vary wildly, raising questions about what these business climate indexes measure, and hence about which policies they capture are more important determinants of state economic growth. Business climate rankings tend to focus on policies related either to productivity, or to taxes and other costs of doing business. States that rank poorly along one of these dimensions often rank quite highly on the other. Business climate indexes that focus on productivity-related variables have essentially no predictive power for economic growth. In contrast, business climate indexes focusing on taxes and costs predict growth of employment, wages, and Gross State Product. Looking at sub-indexes that disaggregate the policies captured by the taxes-and-cost related indexes, two types of policies are associated with faster economic growth: less spending on welfare and transfer payments; and a more uniform and simpler corporate tax structure. But factors beyond the control of policy, like a state's industry mix, population density, and weather, have a stronger relationship with economic growth than even the tax-and-cost-focused business climate indexes
