economic analysis

How should the State of North Carolina go about corporate taxation and corporate welfare? There are four possible policy combinations. At the John Locke Foundation, we have consistently championed…

WRAL reporter Tyler Dukes has examined job creation promises from North Carolina economic-development incentives programs and found them falling far, far short. Dukes assessed job creation from projects under the…

Imagine you’ve been given the task to argue that an industry needs government support to survive. How do you think you’d make that case? Would you: Start by calling the…

The Democratic party’s most radically progressive candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have promised to impose a tax on wealth. To be clear, wealth is distinct from income. Wealth is…

Since 2005, North Carolina has provided over $404 million in subsidies (tax credits and grant payments) to film production companies. The thinking is that incentivizing film productions grows an industry,…

Economic impact studies are common. They usually are invoked by government or special interest groups to demonstrate how a particular spending or tax incentive policy will affect variables such as…

The budget standoff in North Carolina is generating national attention, which focuses on the debate over Medicaid expansion. But there’s another policy standoff in Raleigh, and it’s interesting not just…

Anything done a first time becomes easier to do a second time, for better and for worse. This understanding is why parents force children to try new foods before refusing…

Gov. Roy Cooper opposes corporate tax cuts and giveaways. At least publicly. In his 2017 State of the State address, he made them sound like an occult ritual: “We…

In December 2018, I wrote the following: “As a general rule, the public and politicians should never view economic impact studies as anything more than an attempt by special…