In hard times, economic development specialists have created unique and innovative incentive packages to help ease the financial burden on existing companies and make it attractive for new ones to locate to their states. ...

BF: What economic advantages does Texas offer that have kept the state atop Allied's relocation destination list for the last four years? SM: Texas is often at the top our list due to a number of factors. First, it's a large state with a large population; therefore, it's likely to have a greater percentage of activity. The large metropolitan areas in Texas have diversified their economies over the last 20 y ...

In the opening scene of one of our all-time favorite TV series, mob boss Tony Soprano is chasing a guy through a Jersey parking lot with a baseball bat. The guy owes Tony some vigorish.Vigorish is local vernacular for the weekly interest payments that loan sharks charge to their borrower community. These payments don't actually reduce the amount owed, they are kind of an ''insurance policy'' -- as in, you p ...

Governor Jon Corzine is making a major effort to turn urban blight into a "gold mine" for companies relocating to big cities. ...

Economic developers can leverage the benefits of FTZs to attract jobs and investment, while facilitating maintenance and expansion of their industrial base. ...

Within months of the hideous terrorist attack in 2001 that destroyed the World Trade Center, state and city officials in New York unveiled ambitious plans to build five new skyscrapers, a solemn memorial, and a gleaming new transit hub designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava at the 16-acre site that is known as Ground Zero. The plans called for two reflecting pools that would sit atop the Twin Towe ...

When I was an undergraduate student in Bethlehem, PA, I made a friend from California who told me something I still remember to this day: "You belong in Los Angeles." I didn't understand fully what she meant, and she didn't elaborate. I had always been an East Coast guy—raised at the Jersey shore, and spending a lot of my teenage years and early twenties in the glorious frenzy of Manhattan. But shortly afte ...

These gems didn't just catch our eye with a quick flash. Their consistent economic development sparkle earned them front-and-center display in our annual showcase. ...

The biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sectors have become engines for economic development across the country. ...

With so many new financial centers emerging in secondary cities around the U.S., where will your new location be? ...