Independent Businesses Report Growing Sales and Hiring, but Policies Tilted in Favor of Large Companies Hold Them Back

Date: 10 Feb 2016 | posted in: Press Release, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The 2016 Independent Business Survey finds that independent businesses experienced brisk sales and a sharp increase in hiring in 2015, but that biased policies and other obstacles are limiting their success.… Read More

New Studies Reveal 5 Reasons Policymakers Should Prioritize Local Business in 2016

Date: 12 Jan 2016 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Recent findings from prominent economists, sociologists, and other researchers suggest that small, local businesses are critical to overcoming many of our biggest challenges, from reducing economic inequality to building resilient communities. We round up the new studies and look at what they tell us about why policymakers should focus on strengthening local businesses everywhere. … Read More

States Shower Big Companies with Economic Development Incentives, at Small Businesses’ Expense

Date: 21 Oct 2015 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Even when state economic development programs purport to be open to businesses of any size, in practice, they overwhelmingly favor large companies, according to a study released Tuesday. The study determined that 90 percent of a $3.2 billion pot of economic development incentives was awarded to large firms, a finding that casts light on one of the ways that small businesses are placed at a competitive disadvantage.… Read More

Procurement Can Be a Powerful Tool for Local Economies, but Takes More Than a Policy Change to Work

Date: 27 Aug 2015 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The decision of which firm will get the food service contract at the City Hall cafeteria doesn’t always make it into the news, but local governments spend a lot of money. In towns, counties, and states everywhere, there are roads to be paved, lawyers to be hired, and office supplies to be purchased, and the rules set up to govern those contracts—procurement policies—hold significant potential for governments to grow their local economies.… Read More

Why Glass-Steagall Should Be a Key Issue During the 2016 Campaign

Date: 17 Jul 2015 | posted in: Banking | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In a 2016 campaign season already dominated by candidates’ pursuit of Wall Street donations, how to regulate the banking sector remains one of the most pressing issues facing the country. The Glass-Steagall Act is becoming, and should remain, a key part of the debate.… Read More

For Cities, Big-Box Stores Are Becoming Even More of a Terrible Deal

Under what has become known as the “dark store” method, big-box retailers are declaring their busy stores to be functionally obsolescent and therefore nearly worthless for tax purposes —and they’re winning big judgments for back taxes. It’s the latest example of the way that, even as local governments continue to bend over backwards to attract big-box development, these stores are consistently a bad deal for communities. … Read More

1 2 3 4 5 6