Cummiskey: economic development incentives more art than science. – Atlanta Business Chronicle

When it comes to luring corporate relocations and expansions, economic incentives are more the icing than the cake.

The Peach State, armed with a roughly $100 million “deal closing” fund, hands out discretionary incentives to just 7.25 percent of all prospects, Chris Cummiskey, Georgia’s economic development commissioner said Thursday.

Which companies get the money, is more art, than science.

There is no formula, Cummiskey said. Instead, the state’s economic developers make a calculated guess on which companies are likely to put the project in the state — incentives, or not.

Giving away money to companies who would put projects in the state anyway, makes little sense, Cummiskey said. Saving those dollars for prospects “on the fence” about which state to go to, is a better use of incentive dollars, he said.

Choosing which companies should get the deal-closing money, and how much, keeps Cummiskey up at night.

via Cummiskey: economic development incentives more art than science. – Atlanta Business Chronicle.