No surprise, opinions vary on merits of state incentive plans

Copyright �2010. The Associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. �The Oklahoman Editorial Oklahoman �� Leave a comment Published: November 18, 2010AN economist's guess, said Will Rogers, ?is liable to be as good as anybody else's.? November 3, 2010 - Enerflow Industries of Broken Arrow plans to hire up to 500 workers as part of the state's Quality Jobs program. Photo provided Multimedia That's more an astute observation than it is the type of funny quip for which Rogers is best known, but the supply of jokes about economists is inexhaustible and the demand to laugh at them is, shall we say, inelastic.Ronald Reagan, who got a degree in economics, joked about the two economists who had three opinions. It's been said that God created economists in order to make weather forecasters look good.We offer this levity in response to the dueling ?guesses? of university economists regarding Oklahoma's Quality Jobs Program. Robert Dauffenbach of the University of Oklahoma and Larkin Warner, a retired economist at Oklahoma State, came to the conclusion that the program has benefited employment and tax revenue.If all the economists were laid end to end, the gag goes, they'd never reach a conclusion. Yet Dauffenbach and Warner did just that, in support of one of the state's best-known ? and most expensive ? incentive programs.But University of Central Oklahoma economist Mickey Hepner came to a different conclusion. This invokes what's known as the first law of economists, which says that for every economist there exists an equal and opposite economist, followed by the second law of economics: They're both wrong.Joking aside, we line up with Dauffenbach and Warner in concluding that the Quality Jobs Program has gotten results. Hepner, quoted Sunday by Paul Monies, The Oklahoman's data base editor, says most of the jobs created by the program would have been created without the program.Which side has it right? Both? Neither? It's a partly a matter of values, partly of politics and partly of bias. Yet economics is a social science, not a political philosophy. Reminds us of the laugh line that economists have successfully forecast nine of the last five recessions.The Quality Jobs Program cost the state treasury $54 million in fiscal 2010, on top of the $60.6 million it cost the year before and the $63.7 million the year before that. This is no laughing matter.Oklahoma's incentives programs are under intense scrutiny because of the revenue shortfall. Some incentives were suspended earlier this year, but the Quality Jobs Program continues to take cash off the table. Yet as long as other states offer such programs, Oklahoma must do so as well ? which isn't to say that the scrutiny is unwarranted. Indeed, incentives that produce only low-paying jobs aren't justified.To employ some imagery from the field of economics, we note that talk is cheap because the supply of it always exceeds demand. Demanding an end to incentives programs based strictly on revenue shortfalls is folly. Demanding justification for every incentive program certainly isn't. News Photo Galleriesview all Nicoma Park Elementary School construction: Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 See the pictures.9 photos Creativity World Forum: Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 View photos of Creativity World Forum at the Cox Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, in Oklahoma City.16 photos Creativity World Forum: Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010 View photos of Creativity World Forum at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and downtown Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010.24 photos Native American Month: Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 View the photos.6 photos

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