How *Not* To Do Economic Development
November 10, 2016
Posted by Alan Mallach
Camden is one of the most distressed cities in the United States, and if any city needs state help to build its economy, it’s Camden. While the state of New Jersey has responded, the way it has done so adds up to one of the most egregious examples of misuse of economic development incentives in recent memory. At the same time, it offers some useful lessons for thinking about urban economic development, especially about a concept that people working in this field don’t think about enough—opportunity costs.