When Amazon abandoned its plans to build a new headquarters in New York, the foes of corporate greed declared victory. State and local officials continue to hand out goodies even though evidence suggests that such subsidies have little effect on jobs. In New York, the governor and mayor structured an agreement with Amazon using policy tools already established in the law. Amazon received “as-of-right” incentives, which are given automatically when a company wants to expand or relocate its facilities. Additionally, the city and state agreed that Amazon would not need to go through a local land-use review process, prompting the City Council to cry foul.

Source: New York Times February 16, 2019 15:56 UTC