That’s essentially the message in a Change.org petition supporting a non-aggression pact for Amazon’s campus, which is expected to deliver tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefit for the jurisdiction that lands it.
Economic development is a competitive, and sometimes controversial game. The Amazon pitch is a case in point. Amazon announced that 20 jurisdictions are still in the running. Those 20 are expected to fall all over themselves in coming up with tax incentives and lures for Amazon, the world’s biggest retailer, whose CEO is quite literally the world’s richest person.
As the Change.org petition articulates, it’s questionable whether these so called incentives actually convince a company to go to a certain area:
“Tax giveaways and business location incentives offered by local governments are often wasteful and counterproductive, according to a broad body of research. Such incentives do not alter business location decisions as much as is often claimed, and are less important than more fundamental location factors. Worse, they divert funds that could be put to better use underwriting public services such as schools, housing programs, job training, and transportation, which are more effective ways to spur economic development.”
The petition has so far been signed by more than 600 urbanists, urban economists, policymakers, and experts on cities.
The argument is that companies already know where they need to be geographically, the type of transportation access they desire, and the pool of labor/talent needed to support their business.
What the Change.org petition is suggesting is essentially this: Here are the top 1-20 search results for “corporate headquarters locations.” Choose now with one click.