This paper revisits an important analysis of enterprise zones (EZs) by Ham, Swenson, Imrohoroğlu, and Song (2011), who report substantial poverty reductions from state and federal EZs, as well as improvements in other labor market outcomes. In our re-analysis, we find that a data error accounts for a large share of the estimated impact of state EZs in reducing poverty. More generally, we find that both state and federal EZs appear to be endogenously selected based on prior changes in poverty and other labor market outcomes. Once we account for this selection, much of the evidence that state and federal EZs reduce poverty largely evaporates, as does most of the evidence for other beneficial effects of enterprise zones, with the main exception of some limited evidence for federal Empowerment Zones. Thus, we confirm the more widely-prevailing view that EZs-and especially state EZs-have for the most part been ineffective at reducing urban poverty or improving labor market outcomes in the United States. JEL-Codes: J230, J380.
In the late-1970s, Congress formed the High Plains Study Project to assess and study various management and water supply strategies for the Ogallala basin. In the early-1980s, the High Plains Study Council released its findings and recommendations, which in turn stimulated numerous interpretive critiques. A decade has passed since the High Plains Study Council report, yet water management problems persist. Using data from a stu^ey of water experts in New Mexico, we identify the determinants of support and opposition to three water management options: voluntary conservation, mandatory regulation, and water importation.Preference for water management strategies is a function of how policy is perceived (regtdatory vs. distribtitive). Water users in the Ogallala East region of New Mexico tended to oppose mandatory regtdatory policies that provide the best option for conserving ground water resources for future generations; voluntary conservation-the least effective option-enjoyed the strongest support from respondents. The findings of this research should be of interest to persons concerned with thefitture of the Ogallala aquifer and to students of public policy.
We take up two questions that have not been explored in research on enterprise zones. First, does a considerably longer-run perspective on the effects of state enterprise zones lead to different answers?And second, are there heterogeneous effects of enterprise zones that depend on the set of incentives these programs offer, which can vary widely? Our results indicate that whether we look at state enterprise zone programs through a longer-term lens, or through the lens of program heterogeneity, we generally do not find any consistent indication of beneficial effects of state enterprise zone programs, and if anything the longer-run effects are negative. The lack of positive effects is consistent with most of the prior evidence that focuses on effects that are short-term and homogeneous.
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