Governments’ attempts to goose the economy fall flat

Texas has unseated North Carolina as the most business-friendly state in the country, according to Site Selection magazine, and its "not-so-secret weapon," the editors say, is a $295 million fund established in 2003 "to help lure projects to the state."

The federal government alone spends tens of billions of dollars every year on economic development projects. In 2001, for example, the figure was $57 billion. State and local governments spend billions more.

Yet, it is not clear these huge annual expenditures, which have been taking place for some four decades, have produced long-term measurable benefits.

BY ARTHUR E. FOULKES

(Many thanks to Tom Rolfstad for passing this along- Russ)

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