Investment Incentives and the Global Competition for Capital (International Political Economy Series)

The battle of national, state, and local governments to attract investment has been a high priority for decades. For example, US state and local governments give almost $50 billion in location incentives and over $70 billion in total subsidies annually. Developing countries often pay even more for investments despite the fact they are less able to afford to do so. Using case studies from around the world, and at all levels of government, Thomas shows that investment incentives are rarely a good policy, especially for countries lacking education and an infrastructure. Finally, he analyzes the myriad methods of controlling incentives with an emphasis on the EU's comprehensive and largely successful state aid rules, illustrated by an extended case study of Ireland.