The Effect of Tax Incentives on Local Private Investments and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

Jiajie Xu

♦ This paper examines how place-based tax incentives impact local private investments and entrepreneurship by studying the U.S. Opportunity Zone program targeting economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Using a difference-in-differences approach across census tracts, I find that while the policy increases investment deals in treated areas by 10.5%, it leads to a 1.8% decline in business formation, particularly in the non-tradable sector where firms compete locally. Opportunity Zone investors prefer older, established firms, which in turn discourages business formation. Furthermore, the decline in entrepreneurship is associated with a 1.7% reduction in local employment and decreased market competition, suggesting negative real economic impact.

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