Relocation incentive strategies, an innovative form of economic development incentives, boost short-term economic growth, but leave mixed demographic and economic measures in the medium-term. The Tulsa Remote program led to medium-term boosts in both housing supply and births in the surrounding, non-program implementation areas, boosting regional growth.
Would you move to a new place if you were offered $10,000 to do so?
Around 3,000 individuals, or a mere three percent of those who applied to the Tulsa Remote program, had just that opportunity. The program provides a $10,000 incentive to participants who relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma. To be eligible for the award, applicants must meet certain eligibility criteria, like holding a remote job outside of the state of Oklahoma.
The Tulsa Remote program is a type of relocation incentive strategy supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The program was designed with unique elements, including social networking events, with an aim to build an entrepreneurial community among Tulsa Remote participants.
Sub-national governments and regional nonprofits are turning towards relocation incentive strategies as an innovative economic development solution during the era of remote work. Governmental units, or other sponsor organizations, are able to pay individuals directly to relocate to their area, as an alternative to traditional economic development incentives aimed at businesses (click here).
The United State’s labor force participation rate is declining (click here). Many cities and community organizations in middle America are attempting to find new sources of labor to boost their stagnating economies. A fall in fertility and uncertainty around the continued supply of international immigration, which is quantitatively controlled by federal policy, is leading sub-national governments into a policy entrepreneurship role.
The Tulsa Remote program led to various direct effects and in the short-term has a positive net-benefit (click here). The program, which began in November 2018, boosted direct employment income within Tulsa by $563.6 million across diverse professional industries. Tulsa Remote also drew participants from 45 states and eight nations and increased the demand for local services, including healthcare and real estate through the end of 2023 (click here).
The existence of a relocation incentive strategy, the Tulsa Remote program, produced minimal differences over time in our indicator measures. In the first analysis, we found that in the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, the first control group, there was a greater increase in housing supply growth during the implementation period relative to the time period before program implementation. In addition, we found that the number of births was consistently greater, within the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, relative to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the program implementation period.
In the second analysis, there were no significant differences across our indicator measures. There was a positive, yet not significant, impact on the amount of births in Tulsa County, Oklahoma relative to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
These results point to a potential secondary effect, where the existence of the relocation incentive strategy in the MSA’s central city, Tulsa, Oklahoma, (relatively) increases the rate of housing supply growth and births in the surrounding areas. The Tulsa Remote program increased the region’s direct employment income (click here) and contributed to population growth. The increase in growth within Tulsa, Oklahoma may have pushed individuals and families to the region’s peripheries for housing availability and affordability. Stable housing is generally a precondition for procreation (click here).
Overall, we find that the Tulsa Remote Program is an affordable program alternative to expensive infrastructure and other capital improvements which may draw migrating talent and create economic growth in the short-term. A relocation incentive strategy may be an applicable short-term solution to fill labor gaps, or diversify a regional economy and a probable way to boost economic growth. In the longer-term, if labor shortages, falling fertility and immigration continue to be top political issues, policymakers should work across levels of governance to find more sustainable solutions.
Nicholas Oshefsky is a fourth-year student at Indiana University Bloomington’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He studies public financial management and desires to make a positive impact after graduation in the spring.
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