Flying Blind on Job Creation Policies? A Case Study of California

Abstract

Are state job creation policies evidence-based? The authors present a case study of California's extensive set of job creation policies. The authors identify tax credits, grants, loans, entrepreneur training and assistance, and worker training and assistance policies, and estimate their costs. They synthesize what evidence there is on policy effectiveness. There is good evidence for a small number of state job creation policies, sometimes pointing to success in creating or retaining jobs. But for many state policies there is no evidence on effectiveness, or the evidence does not establish that the policy works.