Nascar next door.

• Author: Hood, John
• Position: FREE+CLEAR

For now. But in the race for jobs, perhaps there's more to be learned from golf.

What makes some economies prosper and others fall behind? We're hearing a wide range of answers to this question as candidates make their pitches for our votes. Here in North Carolina, the question has taken on greater salience as a key dividing line between the newly empowered Republicans and Democrats trying to regain control of some part of state government. Republicans tend to emphasize how state government can inhibit prosperity by imposing excessive taxes and regulations. Democrats tend to emphasize how state government can enhance prosperity by providing public services.

This is not an either-or proposition. No one doubts that roads and schools are valuable assets with broad economic benefits. There is good reason to doubt, however, that high-spending states end up with measurably better roads and schools. Still, almost no one thinks government is only a hindrance to economic growth--or only a help to it.

In today's polarized political climate, answering an important policy question with "it's complicated" or "it depends" may not encourage applause or win votes. But if it's true, you ought to say it anyway. Whatever economic theory you espouse, you can probably find some examples to fit it. A new study published in the journal Public Finance Review illustrates the point--and spotlights North Carolina. Authors Grant Driessen and Steven Sheffrin, both Tulane University scholars, used professional athletes as a proxy for high-income professionals who could decide where to live and work on the basis of state policies.

Previous studies have looked at career choices by basketball and baseball players, but this study is intriguing because it compared location decisions of two groups competing in very different arenas: golf and NASCAR. While both sports feature nationwide tours during which competitors earn income in multiple states, each has its own internal structure. Driessen and Sheffrin observe that "while golf is a relatively individual enterprise, requiring only a minimal level of coaching and access to practice facilities that can be found almost anywhere in the country, race-car driving is done with a team and has mechanical requirements that increase the value of agglomeration."

Agglomeration is a funny-sounding word that is increasingly common in the literature of economic...