The United States has experienced a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years. While foreign firms bring immediate benefits of high‐paying jobs, data limitations have prevented detailed study on FDI's long‐term effects on the states receiving it. By creating a new stock measure of FDI based on employment, we are able to capture these long‐term effects. Results demonstrate that FDI has a greater impact on per capita output growth than domestic investment for US states that meet a minimum human capital threshold. Ironically, the most active states in the recruitment of FDI tend to fall below this threshold.

Recent research has shown that a state's overall tax burden is dependent on that of neighboring states. By disaggregating a state's tax burden into its individual components, this paper demonstrates that during the period of 1967-1996, state taxes with a mobile tax base had positive response rates as high as 60 percent. Thus, a 10 percent increase in neighboring states' rates was met by an increase of up to 6 percent in the home state's rate. Taxes with relatively immobile tax bases exhibit negative responsiveness, meaning that states respond to rate increases in neighboring states by decreasing home rates.

Researchers and practitioners hypothesize that the elderly may move to avoid paying "death" (estate, inheritance and gift, or EIG) taxes. Past research on elderly migration, however, has been based on cross-sectional data. Cross-sectional analyses may be misleading as many states that are historical net-importers of the elderly were also among the fi rst to reduce or eliminate their EIG taxes. Using time variability in migration patterns and EIG tax policies and using the young as a "control" group eliminates any evidence that EIG policies affect elderly migration. Rather, we provide evidence that the causality may instead run in the other direction.

Do states engage in infrastructure expenditure competition to attract new economic activity? Economic theory is inconclusive on the matter. States might respond to increased infrastructure spending in competitor states by increasing their own infrastructure spending. Conversely, states may decrease spending in the presence of positive spillovers from competitor states' infrastructure investment. Using spatial econometric techniques and focusing specifically on highway spending, we demonstrate that states expend less on highways when spending in neighboring states increases. We explore this possibility further by modeling state personal income growth as a function of own-state and neighborstate highway spending. Our findings suggest positive spillovers influence interstate relationships for highway spending rather than race-to-the-top competition for economic activity.

Bruce D., Deskins J. A., Hill B. C. and Rork J. C. (Small) business activity and state economic growth: does size matter?, Regional Studies. Using a 1988-2002 panel of US state-level data, the impact of small and large business activity on gross state product (GSP), state personal income (SPI), and total state employment was examined. Business activity measures include annual counts of firms, establishments, and employees, the dollar value of payroll expenses, and annual births and deaths of establishments. The paper accounts for the simultaneity of business activity and overall growth, other determinants of economic growth, and spatial influences of small business activity. It is found that overall economic growth is faster when the net birth rate of new small firm establishments is positive. [image omitted] Bruce D., Deskins J. A., Hill B. C. et Rork J. C. Activite des (petites) entreprises et croissance economique de l'Etat: l'importance de la taille, Regional Studies. S'appuyant sur une serie de donnees au niveau des Etats-Unis pour la periode 1988-2002, nous examinons les consequences de l'activite des petites et grandes entreprises sur le produit brut de l'Etat (GSP), sur le revenu personnel par tete (SPI) et sur l'emploi total de l'Etat. Les mesures de l'activite des entreprises portent sur les comptes annuels des entreprises, des etablissements et du personnel, la valeur en dollar des depenses de personnel ainsi que sur les naissances et les deces annuels dans les etablissements. Nous tenons compte de la simultaneite de l'activite des entreprises et de la croissance globale, d'autres determinants de la croissance economique et des influences sur l'espace de l'activite des petites entreprises. Nous constatons que la croissance economique globale est plus rapide lorsque le taux des naissances des petites entreprises nouvelles est positif. Petites entreprises Entreprenariat Croissance economique Bruce D., Deskins J. A., Hill B. C. und Rork J. C. Aktivitaten von (Klein-)Unternehmen und Wirtschaftswachstum im Staat: Kommt es auf die Grosse an?, Regional Studies. Anhand eines Panels mit Daten auf der Ebene der US-Bundesstaaten im Zeitraum von 1988 bis 2002 untersuchen wir die Auswirkung der Aktivitaten von Klein- und Grossunternehmen auf das Bruttostaatsprodukt, das personliche Einkommen im Staat und das Gesamtbeschaftigungsniveau im Staat. Zu den Massstaben fur die Unternehmensaktivitat gehoren jahrliche Zahlungen von Firmen, Einrichtungen und Mitarbeitern, der Dollarwert der Lohnaufwendungen sowie die jahrliche Anzahl an Firmengrundungen und Firmenschliessungen. Wir berucksichtigen die Gleichzeitigkeit von Geschaftsaktivitaten und Gesamtwachstum sowie weitere Determinanten des Wirtschaftswachstums und raumliche Einflusse auf die Aktivitat von Kleinunternehmen. Wir stellen fest, dass sich das generelle Wirtschaftswachstum beschleunigt, wenn die Nettorate der Grundungen von neuen Kleinbetrieben positiv ausfallt. Kleinunternehmen Unternehmertum Wirtschaftswachstum Bruce D., Deskins J. A., Hill B. C. y Rork J. C....