Development economists like to talk about an economy’s comparative advantage. Investopedia says this about Comparative Advantage: Comparative advantage is an
Category: Economic Development
We Hardly Knew You
By now you may have heard that Pacific Financial appears to have folded up its tent and left town. Or
Bloomberg on Publicly Funded Stadiums
An alert reader pointed out that this week Bloomberg.com, that bastion of liberal thinking, ran an article called Four Reasons
About the Lost Dog TIRZ
Here’s some informed speculation about TIRZ 12, the Lost Dog TIRZ. I think it has something to do with that
More Lies From Our Friends In City Government
Here’s the City’s Economic Development Director spinning the TIRZs: City Council voted to approve the creation of Tax Increment Reinvestment
A Better Site for the Mexican American Cultural Center
I think the City spends our money poorly. The City spends our money courting out-of-town businesses that compete with our
On The Road Again
According to this story in the USAToday online (which an alert reader directed me to), El Paso was the ninth
The El Paso Street Debacle
El Paso Street was El Paso’s first street. Mandy the Mule used to haul transnationals down the middle of the
What Are We To Do?
You may ask yourself, “What are we going to do about the direction the City of El Paso is headed?”
“The Future of Cities”
On Wednesday the Wall Street Journal came out with a section called “The Future of Cities.” The lead story was
Retrovision: A Local Expert’s Perspective on Economic Development
This post originally appeared on 01 October 2015. Some things have changed since then. Our Commercial property tax rate is
It’s Class War
Here’s District 3 Representative Cassandra Hernandez Brown, talking about City Council’s economic development initiatives to the Texas Standard: “You develop
Murmurs: El Paso Public Library = Chicano Memorial Museum
The word in the smoke-filled back rooms of the the back alleys of the side streets of the halls of
The Death of the American City
This story from Harper’s is about New York, but it’s the formula our city fathers are emulating. New York has
“Some Cities Are Screwed”
An alert reader sent me this relevant article from Salon: [A]s the adage goes, all economics is local. One part
Sign the Lost Dog Petition
The City thinks the way to make El Paso attractive is to tart her up like a hooker in a
Joel Is Right
There are lots of places where people can live and El Paso is one of them. Unfortunately for the El
I Can Admit It When I Make a Mistake
The City can’t. Which is probably why they can’t stop making mistakes. If you’re going to pretend your mistake never
Looking Back to the Future
I’ve been chasing someone else’s disposable income my whole life. Before slinging drinks on the front lines of the service
What If Their Plan Doesn’t Work?
What if they’re doing it wrong? What if their plans for economic development are based on false assumptions? What if