Support a Non-Aggression Pact for Amazon's HQ2
At Strong Towns, we are frequently asked to lend our support to petitions. As a rule, even when we're sympathetic to the cause, we find that we can't participate in a way that is consistent with our mission and strategic plan. A request from Richard Florida to support the Amazon petition below is a unique circumstance creating an exception to the rule. If you would like to join Charles Marohn, Richard Florida and many others in supporting this statement, you can do so at Change.org.
To Elected Officials and Community Leaders of Amazon HQ2 Finalist Cities:
We, the undersigned, represent a broad range of urbanists, urban economists, policymakers, and experts on cities. Some of us are more liberal and others are more conservative. Some of us take a stronger position against the use of incentives; others believe incentives can be used within some reasonable bounds and limits. All of us believe that business activity and private sector competition help to drive vibrant urban economies by providing jobs, spurring innovation, and generating demand.
But, we share a concern about the level of incentives and the looming competition between cities over incentives for Amazon’s new headquarters.
Tax giveaways and business location incentives offered by local governments are often wasteful and counterproductive, according to a broad body of research. Such incentives do not alter business location decisions as much as is often claimed, and are less important than more fundamental location factors. Worse, they divert funds that could be put to better use underwriting public services such as schools, housing programs, job training, and transportation, which are more effective ways to spur economic development.
While we are supportive of Amazon’s quest to build a new headquarters, we fear that the contest among jurisdictions—cities, metro regions, states, and provinces—for this facility threatens to spiral out of control. Already, at least four jurisdictions have proposed multi-billion-dollar incentive packages. This use of Amazon’s market power to extract incentives from local and state governments is rent-seeking and anticompetitive. It is in the public interest to resist such behavior and not play into or enable it.
We urge you the mayors, governors, and other elected officials, as well as economic developers and community leaders, of Amazon HQ2 finalist cities, to put an end to such an imprudent policy.
To do so, we call upon you to forge and sign a mutual non-aggression pact that rejects such egregious tax giveaways and direct monetary incentives for the Amazon headquarters.
States, cities, and metropolitan regions should compete on the underlying strength of their communities—not on public handouts to private business.
Sincerely,
Richard Florida, University of Toronto
Edward Glaeser, Harvard University
Robert Putnam, Harvard University
Bruce Katz, Brookings Institution
Vernon Henderson, London School of Economics
Enrico Moretti, University of California, Berkeley
Jeff Sachs, Columbia University
Jason Furman, Harvard Kennedy School, Former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers
Robert Reich, University of California-Berkeley, Former U.S. Secretary of Labor
Alan B. Krueger, Princeton University, Former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers
Laura Tyson, University of California, Berkeley, Former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors
Timothy Bartik, Upjohn Institute
Kathryn Shaw, Stanford University
Dani Rodrik, Harvard University
Robert Sampson, Harvard University
Ryan Enos, Harvard University
Glenn Loury, Brown University
Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute
Michael Storper, UCLA and London School of Economics
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University
Joel Kotkin, Chapman University
Stephanie Kelton, StonyBrook University, Former Chief Economist for Bernie Sanders
Thea Lee, Economic Policy Institute
Amy Glasmeier, MIT
Erik Brynjolfsson MIT
Scott Stern, MIT
Zeynep Ton, MIT
William Easterly, New York University
Patrick Sharkey, New York University
Mitchell Moss, New York University
Mark Kleiman, New York University
Ingrid Gould Ellen, New York University
Jonathan Haidt, New York University
Scott Galloway, New York University
Emily Talen, University of Chicago
Luc Anselin, University of Chicago
Justin Wolfers, University of Michigan
Gabriel Metcalfe, SPUR
Teresa Lynch, Mass Economics
Lenny Mendonca, New America
Ken Greenberg, Urbanist, Former Director of Architecture and Urban Design for the City of Toronto
Brent Toderian, Council for Canadian Urbanism, Former Chief Planner, City of Vancouver
Kirsten Wyatt, Engaging Local Government Leaders
Aaron Renn, Urbanist
Kaid Benfield, Urbanist
Alan Pisarski, Transportation Specialist
Ian Hathaway, Brookings Institution
Charles Marohn, Strong Town
Myron Orfield Jr., University of Minnesota
Dean Baker, Center for Economic Policy and Research
Brink Lindsey, Niskanen Center
Will Wilkinson, Niskanen Center
Adam Grant, University of Pennsylvania
Eugenie Birch, University of Pennsylvania
Gilles Duranton, University of Pennsylvania
Moshe Adler, Columbia University
Allen Scott, UCLA
Steven Durlauf, University of Chicago
David Audretsch, Indiana University
Zoltan Acs, George Mason University
David Albouy, University of Illinois
Chris Tilly, UCLA
Roger Martin, University of Toronto
Will Strange, University of Toronto
Nate Baum-Snow, University of Toronto
Joshua Gans, University of Toronto
Jennifer Keesmaat, University of Toronto, Former Chief Planner, City of Toronto
Steven Teles, Johns Hopkins University and Niskanen Center
Gregory D. Squires, George Washington University
Andres Duany, University of Miami
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, University of Miami
Alan Berger, MIT
Nathan Jensen, University of Texas at Austin
Richard Green, USC
Edward J. Malecki, The Ohio State University
Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Institute of Technology
Chris Leinberger, George Washington University
Arthur C. Nelson, University of Arizona
Joan Fitzgerald, Northeastern University
William Riggs, University of California, San rancisco
Kenneth Thomas, University of Missouri-St. Louis
John Gildebloom, University of Lousiville
Gerald Carlino, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Jose Lobo, Arizona State University
Ben Hecht, Living Cities
Jennifer Bradley, Aspen Institute
Joe Cortright, City Observatory
Lynn Richards, Congress for New Urbanism
Patrice Frey, National Main Street Center
Jeremy Nowak, Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, Drexel University
Jonathan Bowles, Center for an Urban Future
Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First
Nicholas Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Michael Mazerov, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Alan Essig, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
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