This dynamic is hardly unique to Indiana. To the extent that a place like the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville continues to improve itself, this only increases the advantages it has in luring residents and jobs away from struggling post-industrial communities like Muncie that have fewer resources to rebuild with and are further out from the urban center. This tells you everything you need to know about why Indiana’s state government has traditionally been hostile to efforts by localities to improve quality of place, whether through mass transit or through public services such as new libraries and better performing schools. ![]() So, we bring a nice factory to Muncie, and the employees all commute from Noblesville.” We abate taxes, apply TIFs and woo businesses all over the state, but then the employees who receive middle-class wages (say $18 an hour or more) choose the nicest place to live within a 40-mile radius. One force in particular is the increasing divergence in attractiveness and performance between communities.īall State University economist Michael Hicks, writing in Howey Politics Indiana, elaborated on the problem: “Almost all our local economic policies target business investment and masquerade as job creation efforts. So why is it so hard to make progress? One reason is that there are often structural forces that act to suppress improvement. ![]() Who could argue against making things better? It seems absurd.
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