Article
- Economic Development Incentives: Research Approaches and Current Views
Dan Gorin
October 28, 2008
Economic development incentives remain a tool used by state and local policymakers to stimulate their economies, but good public policy in these efforts requires adequate disclosure and measurement of incentive packages. This article assesses the historical research examining the effectiveness of incentives, and finds much of it inconclusive or unsatisfactory because of methodological flaws and inadequate data. The author finds that enhanced incentive disclosures, greater access to local economic data, and stronger methodologies developed over the past 10 years now enables researchers to better assess the effectiveness of state and local development incentives. PDF (96 KB)
- Recent Payment Trends in the United States
Geoffrey R. Gerdes
October 28, 2008
U.S. consumers and businesses are continuing to switch from writing checks to paying for goods and services with credit and debit cards and other electronic payment instruments. In fact, by 2006 more than twice as many payments were being made electronically--and by early 2007, the number of debit card payments alone exceeded the number of check payments. For those payments still being made by check, the clearing process itself is also becoming more electronic, as original paper checks are increasingly being "truncated" during the clearing process and replaced with electronic images. PDF (633 KB)
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