It is time for a new standard narrative, one more reflective of the data about interstate migration, tax rankings, and how we measure and do business competitiveness.
2nd comment. While the ideologues at RIPEC emnphasize taxes when discussing business climate rankings, other reserach points out that a real key factor in business climate rankings is how much mining and drilling takes place in a state. Nearly all big mining and drilling states have high business climate rankings, primarily becasue they are states that allow a lot of pollution. Mining and drilling always pollute a lot of water. Mining states all have lax restrrictions on water pollution because the big mining industry has a lot of clout at the state legislature. Rhode Island, with essentially no mining has no such excuse, and has some pretty good water quality standards (thought here is always pressure to allow buildings in places that are really too wet to build on due to being flood prone) Since tax rates seem to have almost no effect on economic performance, either the rating organizations lie about the effect of taxes on economic performance or they switch out the key indicators towards regulations on things like clean water or regulations that harm unionization efforts.. In reality, it is all a scam, and much of the data suggests that protecting the environment and workers is actually good for the economy. Maybe states with large mining and drilling industries see somewhat better economic performance due to extraction, but that is because they never look at how much dirty water costs the economy.
I have been pointiing out how useless business climates are as a predictor of economic performance. they are just idiological garbage. Glad that idea is finally going mainstream, it is about time. Here are some of my writings on the RI business clianteand what it means
2nd comment. While the ideologues at RIPEC emnphasize taxes when discussing business climate rankings, other reserach points out that a real key factor in business climate rankings is how much mining and drilling takes place in a state. Nearly all big mining and drilling states have high business climate rankings, primarily becasue they are states that allow a lot of pollution. Mining and drilling always pollute a lot of water. Mining states all have lax restrrictions on water pollution because the big mining industry has a lot of clout at the state legislature. Rhode Island, with essentially no mining has no such excuse, and has some pretty good water quality standards (thought here is always pressure to allow buildings in places that are really too wet to build on due to being flood prone) Since tax rates seem to have almost no effect on economic performance, either the rating organizations lie about the effect of taxes on economic performance or they switch out the key indicators towards regulations on things like clean water or regulations that harm unionization efforts.. In reality, it is all a scam, and much of the data suggests that protecting the environment and workers is actually good for the economy. Maybe states with large mining and drilling industries see somewhat better economic performance due to extraction, but that is because they never look at how much dirty water costs the economy.
I have been pointiing out how useless business climates are as a predictor of economic performance. they are just idiological garbage. Glad that idea is finally going mainstream, it is about time. Here are some of my writings on the RI business clianteand what it means
Business Climate Mania 2014 https://prosperityforri.com/about-us/f/business-climate-mania-2014
Business Climate or Real Climate 2019 https://prosperityforri.com/about-us/f/business-climate-or-real-climate-2019
Business Climates Mean Nothing 2015 https://prosperityforri.com/about-us/f/business-climates-mean-nothing