The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) recently hosted the annual Roundtable on Evaluating Economic Development Tax Incentives in beautiful Helena, Montana.
NCSL, with the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts, brought together economists, auditors, analysts, researchers, economic developers and consultants who all share an interest in improving our understanding of how tax incentives work and illuminating their impact on state budgets and economies.
Evaluators continue to examine processes and techniques to improve the quality of their assessments. Session themes covered:
- Foundational Concepts in Evaluations
- Guidance on Survey Design
- Using Geographic Information Systems in Evaluations
- Using AI in Evaluations
- Streamlining Evaluation Approaches
A great slate of speakers offered practical guidance on making the most of different analytical tools. Remarks on responsible AI use and survey design were particularly insightful.
The Critical Challenge: Connecting Evidence to Policy
A significant underlying theme this year was the need to ensure incentive evaluations remain relevant and actionable for policymakers. While evaluators are successfully generating more and better evidence—clearly identifying incentives that work and those that don’t—many are encountering difficulty engaging with decision-makers. This disconnect prevents the evidence from being fully incorporated into policy deliberations.
Smart Incentives will be taking up this issue in the coming year. We’ve come a long way in terms of improving transparency and accountability in incentive use. The challenge now is ensuring these newly available insights are effectively integrated into our incentive policies and practices.
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