The Role of Small and Large Businesses in Economic Development
经济发展专家正从依赖税收优惠吸引大企业转向扶持本地小企业和创业，同时改善基础设施和劳动力素质，因为吸引大企业的策略成本高且效果有限。
Increasingly, economic development experts are abandoning traditional approaches to economic development that rely on recruiting large enterprises with tax breaks, financial incentives, and other inducements. Instead, they are relying on building businesses from the ground up and supporting the growth of existing enterprises. This approach has two complementary features. The first is to develop and support entrepreneurs and small businesses. The second is to expand and improve infrastructure and to develop or recruit a highly skilled and educated workforce. Both efforts depend in large part on improving the quality of life in the community and creating an attractive business climate. The reason for the shift in approaches is clear. Experience suggests that economic development strategies aimed at attracting large firms are unlikely to be successful—or successful only at great cost. Smokestack chasing can be especially costly if it generates competition for firms among jurisdictions. Further, because of the purported job creation role