GE announced that it would downsize its Boston headquarters to 250 employees from a previously projected 800. The company will also return $87.4 million to the state in economic development incentives.
A new piece in Fortune suggests that the moves question whether economic incentives are effective.
It’s a new twist on a long debate.
“Research indicates there’s no major correlation between a state’s giveaways and its unemployment rate or income levels, Bryce Covert wrote in the New York Times in November, and incentives also don’t have much influence over the chosen location. About two-thirds of incentives are given to companies that would have moved to the location offering them anyway,” according to the article.
To be continued…