The Effects of Business Assistance Programs on Employment Growth in Maine Establishments

Gabe, Todd (2000): The Effects of Business Assistance Programs on Employment Growth in Maine Establishments.

Abstract

The purpose of this research project is to provide information to the Maine Economic Development Incentive Commission (EDIC) to assist in its evaluation of Maine’s economic development incentive programs. As a statistical-based study, the analysis focuses primarily on the relationship between short-term employment change in Maine establishments from 1998 to 1999 and their participation in incentive programs. The programs highlighted in the study are the Business Equipment Property Tax Reimbursement Program (BETR), the Governor’s Training Initiative (GTI), Maine Quality Centers (MQC) and the municipal Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Economic Development Incentives, Firm Growth, Maine
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations > H71 - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue; L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L25 - Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis > R51 - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies

References

Anderson, John and Robert Wassmer, “The Decision to ‘Bid for Business’: Municipal Behavior in Granting Property Tax Abatements,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 25 (1995), 739-757.

Bartik, Timothy, “Business Location Decisions in the United States: Estimates of the Effects of Unionization, Taxes, and Other Characteristics of States,” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 3 (1985), 14-22.

de Bartolome, Charles and Mark Spiegel, “Does State Economic Development Spending Increase Manufacturing Employment?,” Journal of Urban Economics 41 (1997), 153-175.

Bond, Eric and Larry Samuelson, “Tax Holidays as Signals,” The American Economic Review 76 (1986), 820-826.

Burstein, Melvin and Arthur Rolnick, “Congress Should End the Economic War Among the States,” The Region 9 (1994), 2-20.

Carlton, Dennis, “The Location and Employment Choices of New Firms: An Econometric Model with Discrete and Continuous Endogenous Variables,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 65 (1983) 440-449.

Dunne, Timothy, Mark Roberts, and Larry Samuelson, “The Growth and Failure of U.S. Manufacturing Plants,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 104 (1989), 671- 698.

Evans, David, “Tests of Alternative Theories of Firm Growth,” Journal of Political Economy 95 (1987), 657-674.

Evans, David, “The Relationship between Firm Growth, Size, and Age: Estimates for 100 Manufacturing Industries,” The Journal of Industrial Economics 35 (1987), 567-581.

Greenberg, Elizabeth and Richard Reeder, “Who Benefits from Business Assistance Programs: Results from the ERS Rural Manufacturing Survey,” Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 736-04, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (1998).

Hall, Bronwyn, “The Relationship Between Firm Size and Firm Growth in the US Manufacturing Sector,” The Journal of Industrial Economics 35 (1987), 583-606.

Holmes, Thomas, “Analyzing a Proposal to Ban State Tax Breaks to Businesses,” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review 19 (1995), 29-39.

Hymer, Stephen and Peter Pashigian, “Firm Size and Rate of Growth,” The Journal of Political Economy 70 (1962), 556-569.

Jovanovic, Boyan, “Selection and the Evolution of Industry,” Econometrica 50 (1982), 649-670.

Ledebur, Larry and Douglas Woodward, “Adding a Stick to the Carrot: Location Incentives with Clawbacks, Recisions, and Recalibrations,” Economic Development Quarterly 4 (1990), 221-237.

Newman, Robert and Dennis Sullivan, “Econometric Analysis of Business Tax Impacts on Industrial Location: What Do We Know, and How Do We Know It?,” Journal of Urban Economics 23 (1988), 215-234.

Oechssler, Jorg, “The City vs. Firm Subsidy Game,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 24 (1994), 391-407.

Pakes, Ariel and Richard Ericson, “Empirical Implications of Alternative Models of Firm Dynamics,” Journal of Economic Theory 79 (1998), 1-45.

Peters, Alan, “Clawbacks and the Administration of Economic Development Policy in the Midwest,” Economic Development Quarterly 7 (1993), 328-340.

Rinehart, James and William Laird, “Community Inducements to Industry and the Zero-Sum Game,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 19 (1972), 73-90.

Rubin, Barry and Kurt Zorn, “Sensible State and Local Economic Development,” Public Administration Review 45 (1985), 333-339.

Singh, Ajit and Geoffrey Whittington, “The Size and Growth of Firms,” The Review of Economic Studies 42 (1975), 15-26.

Variyam, Jayachandran and David Kraybill, “Empirical Evidence on Determinants of Firm Growth,” Economics Letters 38 (1992), 31-36.

Variyam, Jayachandran and David Kraybill, “Managerial Inputs and the Growth of Rural Small Firms,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 76 (1994), 568-575.

Walker, Robert and David Greenstreet, “The Effect of Government Incentives and Assistance on Location and Job Growth in Manufacturing,” Regional Studies 25 (1991), 13-30.

Wasylenko, Michael and Therese McGuire, “Jobs and Taxes: The Effect of Business Climate on States’ Employment Growth Rates,” National Tax Journal 38 (1985), 497-511.

Wohlgemuth, Darin and Maureen Kilkenny, “Firm Relocation Threats and Copy Cat Costs,” International Regional Science Review 21 (1998), 139-162.

Wolkoff, Michael, “New Directions in the Analysis of Economic Development Policy,” Economic Development Quarterly 4 (1990), 334-344.

Wolkoff, Michael, “Is Economic Development Decision Making Rational?” Urban Affairs Quarterly 27 (1992), 340-355.