Per the WashPo, the cost to the state is about $231,000 per job. That’s not bad, per se, when amortized across the possible multiplier effects of the factory and the fact that people need employment. It’s social welfare spending for conservatives in rural areas. We’ll see if they actually create 13,000 jobs or not. My guess is no, but some are probably better than none.
But this is what it takes to get businesses to locate in inefficient locations.
The loser here appears to be Ohio, in the entirely-too-predictable problems of noncooperative zero-sum games. But that part of the story is easy to discount.
These deals have had the useful effect that now I understand the technical game theoretic basis for the winners curse. That is one lesson from economics I follow religiously: never get into a bidding war if you are uncertain of the value of the prize.