A new post from the U.S. Economic Development Administration touts the importance of the Recompete Pilot Program, a program that targets grants to places with persistently low employment rates. The Recompete program is based on research from Upjohn Institute Senior Economist Timothy Bartik.
The post, “Recompete Pilot Program is Critical to U.S. Economic Policy,” appears on the blog of EDA, a bureau of the Commerce Department.
Bartik outlined his proposal for targeting grants to distressed places, which account for 15 percent of the U.S. population, in a report for the Brookings Institution. He expanded his proposal in an Upjohn Institute policy paper, considering how the program could be broadened to include an additional 15 percent of the population and to link residents of distressed neighborhoods with jobs.
The EDA piece also cites several pieces of Bartik’s research.