Interlocality competition is a staple concern of modern economic geography. Yet, beyond the abstract bases of this competition in the very nature of capitalism, the question of how such interlocality competition arose in the post-1945 period remains underexplored. In this article we draw on the sociology of markets and metrics literature to examine the socially constructed nature of the “location market” that underpins interlocality competition for investment. The empirical focus of the article is on one company—Fantus—and one idea—the local business climate. The Fantus company pioneered the practice of corporate site selection and location consulting and played a key role in constructing a market for location in the United States. Drawing on sources that include the archive of the company’s files, we describe the work of this company and its role in assembling the local “business climate” index. The story provides a glimpse of the politicized and contested origins of metrics as market-making techniques, their derivatives, and their unintended, unanticipated, and at times downright perverse effects. The business climate measure served to change perceptions of the value of places, rendering them as interchangeable locations. It is a compelling example of the broader process by which the representation of places in the language of numbers exacerbates the competition for capital, obscuring the politicized and asymmetrical nature of that competition.

地区间竞争是现代经济地理学的主要关注点。然而，除了资本主义本质上这种竞争的抽象基础之外，这种跨地区竞争如何在 1945 年后时期出现的问题仍未得到充分探索。在这篇文章中，我们利用市场社会学和度量文献来研究支持地区间投资竞争的“选址市场”的社会建构性质。这篇文章的实证重点是一家公司——Fantus——和一个想法——当地的商业环境。Fantus公司开创了企业选址和选址咨询的实践，在构建美国选址市场方面发挥了关键作用。利用包括公司档案档案在内的资源，我们描述了这家公司的工作及其在收集当地“商业环境”指数方面的作用。这个故事让我们得以一窥指标作为做市技术的政治化和有争议的起源、它们的衍生品，以及它们意想不到的、意外的，有时甚至是彻头彻尾的反常效果。商业环境指标有助于改变人们对地点价值的看法，使它们成为可互换的地点。这是更广泛过程的一个令人信服的例子，在这个过程中，用数字语言表示地方加剧了对资本的竞争，掩盖了这种竞争的政治化和不对称性。以及它们意想不到的、意外的，有时甚至是彻头彻尾的不利影响。商业环境指标有助于改变人们对地点价值的看法，使它们成为可互换的地点。这是更广泛过程的一个令人信服的例子，在这个过程中，用数字语言表示地方加剧了对资本的竞争，掩盖了这种竞争的政治化和不对称性。以及它们意想不到的、意外的，有时甚至是彻头彻尾的不利影响。商业环境指标有助于改变人们对地点价值的看法，使它们成为可互换的地点。这是更广泛过程的一个令人信服的例子，在这个过程中，用数字语言表示地方加剧了对资本的竞争，掩盖了这种竞争的政治化和不对称性。