Assessing the impacts of regional characteristics on the location of manufacturing facilities: A review of recent methods and findings

This report gives federal agencies background information to help them assess the impacts that siting a nuclear-waste storage facility could have on industries making location decisions in various regions of influence. It reviews two major research methods used to analyze reasons for location choices: economic-based or econometric methods and survey-based factor-ranking methods. It summarizes the results of studies that have used these methods, identifying and ranking factors shown to be important to industries making location decisions throughout the nation and in western states. Neither economic-based nor survey-based studies have shown the public's perceptions of a region to be an important determinant in the selection of new manufacturing sites, although consideration of the level of amenities is gaining importance in the West. In general, available studies are inconclusive with respect to the extent to which perceptions about hazards play a role in the location of manufacturing facilities in any region of the nation

The Equity Impacts of Municipal Tax Incentives: Leveling or Tilting the Playing Field?

The widespread use over the past two decades of Michigan's PA 198 Industrial Tax Abatement program provides an opportunity to assess the inter-urban equity impacts of this economic development tool. Not only has PA 198 been used relatively more often by suburban municipalities, local governments at the metropolitan periphery are more likely to use abatements to attract new plants and new jobs. The older central cities primarily use the program to retain existing jobs, albeit at high cost of lost tax revenues. On balance, it appears that PA 198 has done little to alter the location decisions of participating firms. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.