Even as economic incentives are increasingly used by policy makers to spur state and local economic development, their use is controversial among the public and academics. The authors examine whether state and local incentives lead to higher rates of business start-ups in metropolitan counties. Existing research indicates that start-ups are important for supporting (net) job creation, long-term growth, innovation, and development. The authors find that incentives have a statistically significant, negative relationship with start-up rates in total and for some industries including export-based and others that often receive incentives. The findings support critics who contend that incentives crowd out other economic activity, potentially reducing long-term growth. The authors also find that greater intersectoral job flows are positively linked to total start-ups, consistent with claims of those who advocate for policies that enhance labor market flexibility through reducing barriers to job mobility.

中文翻译：

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州和地方经济激励措施对美国创业的影响：县级证据

尽管决策者越来越多地采用经济激励措施来刺激州和地方经济发展，但其在公众和学者中的使用仍引起争议。作者研究了州级和地方性激励措施是否会导致大城市县的初创企业发生率更高。现有研究表明，初创公司对于支持（净）就业机会创造，长期增长，创新和发展至关重要。作者发现，对于某些行业，包括基于出口的行业和其他经常受到激励的行业，激励措施与总体上的启动率具有统计学上显着的负相关关系。研究结果为批评家们辩解，他们认为激励措施挤出了其他经济活动，从而可能降低长期增长。