As part of a book project I’m reviewing information on the performance of investment incentive programs in the United States.  These programs are designed to help attract new investment, encourage expansion, and retain existing firms.  I’ve been collecting audits of these programs by state legislatures.

The general consensus from these audits are that the programs lack oversight and that it difficult to verify the performance of these programs.  That is putting it nicely.  Most of these audits range from critical to scathing.  Here are some news stories on the most recent audits.

• A very critical audit of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (the organization and the incentive programs).
• The Texas Enterprise Fund critics include legislators that signed the legislation. Other Texas programs received similar reports including incentives from school districts.
• Claims of lack of transparency and favoritism in the Utah incentive programs.
• I’ve written about the The Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) program in the past.  The third part of their legislative audit should be out in Dec.  The first two parts were very critical of the program and lamented the lack of systematic data collection on the program
• PEW has a nice overview of the past Minnesota, Louisiana, and Massachusetts audits.

More to come.