Academic Research
“Do Targeted Business Subsidies Improve Income and Reduce Poverty? A Synthetic Control Approach” by Jacob Bundrick and Weici Yuan
This paper by Bundrick and Yuan, published in Economic Development Quarterly on September 20, 2019, used evidence from Arkansas鈥檚 Quick Action Closing Fund to analyze how effective deal-closing funds are at increasing incomes and decreasing poverty. Their results largely suggest that the business subsidy program fails to increase incomes and lower poverty rates over the long term at the county level.
“Do Business Subsidies Lead to Increased Economic Activity? Evidence from Arkansas鈥檚 Quick Action Closing Fund” by Thomas Snyder and Jacob Bundrick
Click to view a one-page infographic of the research.
This study investigates the relationship between, on the one hand, the provision of cash subsidies to select businesses and, on the other hand, employment and establishments in Arkansas鈥檚 counties. The authors find no evidence to suggest that Quick Action Closing Fund subsidies lead to increased employment and more business establishments in Arkansas鈥檚 counties. This working paper was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Review of Regional Studies.
Policy Reviews
“Government Accountability: 5 Fixes for Arkansas’s Quick Action Closing Fund” by Jacob Bundrick
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The Quick Action Closing Fund is a targeted economic development incentive program Arkansas uses to try to increase economic activity. This program allows the state government to give cash grants in order to attract or retain听businesses. It鈥檚 largely up to the governor of Arkansas to approve these cash grants. Arkansas lawmakers can take steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the program. This听policy review written looks at five different policy proposals that could accomplish these goals.
“Tax Breaks & Subsides:听Challenging the Arkansas Status Quo” by Jacob Bundrick
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Have you ever wondered whether tax breaks and subsidies have side effects? Are you curious about alternative ways to expand Arkansas’s economy? This policy review provides an in-depth look at these programs, their economic impact, and some common misconceptions people have about them.
Policy Briefs
“Economic Development or Risky Business: A Citizen鈥檚 Guide to Issue 3, 2016”听by Jeremy Horpedahl and Jacob Bundrick
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This brief guide gives readers the pros and cons of the controversial ballot measure “Issue 3:听An Amendment to the Arkansas Constitution Concerning Job Creation, Job Expansion and Economic Development.” This ballot issue would remove the current cap on Amendment 82 bonds that the state may issue for economic development projects and would allow local governments to appropriate money for economic development.听Proponents of Issue 3 argue that, by removing the limit on the amount of debt the state can issue for听economic development, Arkansas may be able to attract economic development projects it would not听otherwise be able to secure.听However, issuing debt and using tax dollars for economic development comes at a cost. Arkansas and its cities would take on significant risk by issuing public debt to attract select companies under the change from Issue 3.
Op-Eds and Commentary
- “” op-ed by former Legislative Research Associate Dr. Nathan Smith published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on June 18, 2021 about targeted economic development legislation passed during the 2021 legislative session.
- “” op-ed by former ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellow Erica Smith published in Arkansas Business听about the shortcomings of Arkansas’s targeted economic development incentives program.
- 鈥溾��: op-ed published by听Dango Kumwenda, an ACRE Fellow and BT天堂MBA student, in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on April 1, 2019听arguing that Arkansas is misallocating its economic development incentives by focusing most of them in the richest counties in the state.
- 听ACRE Affiliated Researcher and BT天堂Lecturer I of Economics Jacob Bundrick was quoted in this December 14 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.听The article focuses on an annual cost-benefit study of economic development incentives by Arkansas Legislative Audit.
- – op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on February 12, 2019. Bundrick states that good policy requires objective analysis, but objective analysis can be hard to do without good data. Bundrick recalls a bill that was introduced in 2017 that would have created an online database for targeted economic development incentives. The bill was withdrawn after the Arkansas Economic Development Commission stated it would implement this database on its own terms, but the database hasn’t yet been published.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on November 8, 2018. Bundrick explains academic literature that casts doubt on targeted economic development incentives鈥� role in increasing economic activity and examines the opportunity costs of such policies.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick听in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on听September 14, 2018.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on听July 27,听2018.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on听May 10, 2018.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on听March 19, 2018.
- op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on January 20,听2018.
- “听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on October 27,听2017.
- “Economic Development Bidding: A Prisoner鈥檚 Dilemma”: insight article published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in听Bloomberg BNA’s Daily Tax Report: State听on October 20,听2017.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on听August 26,听2017.
- “Good Jobs Program or Bad Economic Policy?”:听insight article published听 by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in听Bloomberg BNA鈥榮 Daily听Tax Report: State on听August 10,听2017.
- commentary published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick and Dean Stansel, an economist at Southern Methodist University鈥檚 Cox School of Business, in the Dallas Morning News on听December 7, 2016.
- “Film Tax Credits: Job Creator or Just Another Act?”:听insight article published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in听Bloomberg BNA’s Weekly State Tax Report on November 18, 2016
- “Professional Sports Stadiums: Economic Boon or Boondoggle”:听insight article published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in听Bloomberg BNA’s Weekly State Tax Report on November 11, 2016
- op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on听October 22, 2016.
- Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick’s听blog post from August 23, 2016, on tax breaks and subsides in Arkansas was recently cited in a Letter to the Editor by Dane Clark of Fort Smith in the听Lonoke Democrat. Clark’s letter was circulated in several local Arkansas papers such as the听Helena World,听the Fort Smith Times Record, and the听Arkansas News Bureau. Bundrick’s blog post was based on his recent听policy review, “Tax Breaks & Subsidies:听Challenging听the Arkansas Status Quo.”
- op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick and听Rajshree Agarwal, the director of the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, in the听Baltimore Sun on听October 10, 2016.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on September 3rd, 2016.
- 听op-ed听published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on听July 16, 2016.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on April 9,听2016.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on March 7, 2016.
- 听op-ed published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on February 6, 2016.
- 听op-ed听published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Democrat-Gazette听on December 21, 2015.
- 听op-ed听published by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick in the听Arkansas Business on听November 30, 2015.
- “Financial Incentives for All Firms Boost the Economy”:听by ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick.
You can find more of our targeted incentives-related commentary at The ACRE Review.