An Analysis of Mississippi Tax Incentives

Author

Bruce H. Brawner, University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Josh Hendrickson

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The locational decisions of firms present a complex economic and political problem for State Legislatures across the United States of America. It is well known that individual states compete against one another, offering large packages of incentives to firms who open within their borders — a process popularly known as the race to the bottom. This thesis examines public subsidy information reported by the Mississippi Development Authority alongside wage and employment data from 1990 to 2016 in a local projection framework to examine whether or not treatment effects of local government spending are significant. I then employ the same method on targeted industries. I find no significant evidence these subsidies have measurable effects on wage or employment in Mississippi.

Recommended Citation

Brawner, Bruce H., "An Analysis of Mississippi Tax Incentives" (2018). Honors Theses. 146.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/146

Accessibility Status

Searchable text