Passing the annual budget is often a difficult task for state governments, particularly during lean fiscal periods. Over the past few months, Illinois has found resourceful ways to avoid a complete government shutdown after not passing their annual state budget.
Continue ReadingThe Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) has updated its State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database as part of a continuous effort to track investments in economic development across all fifty states. The database now includes all Governor Recommended Budgets for fiscal year 2016. Read the full report on this update here. According to […]
Continue ReadingWho can argue with the importance of understanding whether or not taxpayer dollars are being used effectively to meet agreed upon policy goals like economic growth? Across the country, the concept of regularly evaluating economic development incentives, including those implemented as tax credits, is broadly accepted. The devil, however, is in the details. The best evaluations follow recognized policy evaluation and data analysis methodologies and principles.
Continue ReadingUsers of the C2ER State Business Incentives Database have a new resource for understanding some of the tricky terminology used to describe state business incentives. The Database now features a full Glossary with information on every term utilized in the Database.
Continue ReadingUsers of the C2ER Economic Development Program Expenditures Database may notice differences in how frequently the budget for each state is released. This is because states have the choice of using either annual or biennial budgets, meaning budgets released every two years. Therefore, some states will not release their proposed budget for an extra year, […]
Continue ReadingAs data from the proposed FY2016 State Budgets are released, C2ER has been updating the C2ER State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database. As C2ER staff review the state budgets that have been released over the past few months, they have been looking for investments in apprenticeship programs. Here are highlights from Connecticut, Iowa, and Maryland: […]
Continue ReadingAs data from the proposed FY2016 State Budgets are released, C2ER has been updating the C2ER State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database. The proposed budgets provide information on eliminated programs and decreased funding for economic development financing, with many affecting small business development related programs.
Continue ReadingAccording to the C2ER State Economic Development Expenditure Database, international trade and investment is among the fastest growing economic development functional areas. C2ER defines the international trade and investment function as program activities involving export promotion, international marketing and recruitment, foreign direct investment assistance, and an array of programs aimed at building stronger economic ties […]
Continue ReadingC2ER staffers are busy digging through the newest proposed state budgets for FY2016. As we update the State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database, a number of programs have stood out. The proposed budgets include new programs as well as some major funding increases in economic development financing, infrastructure and construction, research and development, and employment […]
Continue ReadingC2ER is pleased to announce two new analysis tools for the State Business Incentives Database. Researchers using the new State by State and Totals by State analysis tools will now find it much easier to make “apples-to-apples” comparisons between incentives projects.
Continue Reading