Economic Development Spending: Misguided and Wasteful

Pennsylvanians have spent billions of dollars on so-called economic development programs so far this decade with promises of thousands of jobs and untold spin-off benefits. Yet this investment is not paying off as total private employment has grown by less than one percent per year from 2000 to 2006—and most of that has been in health and education sectors that are heavily driven by government created demand. Nowhere is this failed development strategy more pronounced than the Department of Community and Economic Development’s (DCED) Opportunity Grant Program (OGP). A recent report from the Auditor General’s office highlights the shortcomings of that program. Continue