“N.F.L. Stadium in Las Vegas May Be an Ego Boost, but Not an Economic One” (nytimes) is interesting for what it reveals about Americans and their understanding of economics. The basic idea approved by state politicians is somewhat similar to Hillary Clinton’s economic plan. Taxes will be raised (in this case on hotel stays; for “the rich” in Hillary’s case) but the people paying the higher tax won’t change their behavior. So there will be free money coming from tourists and that will be used to fund most of the stadium and the roads to feed the stadium. The “business” journalist at the New York Times doesn’t ask “Well, if this is free money, why not spend it on something else?” nor “Won’t there be a reduction in hotel stays, just like if you tax cigarettes people smoke fewer packs?” Neither do the 74 commenters.
[One unarguable fact is that the football players, if they move from Oakland, will reduce their radar cross-section when being targeted by child support plaintiffs. California offers unlimited profits for a pregnancy resulting from a one-night encounter; Nevada caps the revenue yield from a child at $13,000 per year. There could still be venue litigation following out-of-state sex.]
Related:
It’s almost like they’re not thinking this through. Las Vegas makes its money from people that come from other places to see and do things that they can’t do in those places. (Gamble, cavort, see various wonders, watch shows, eat large amounts of fancy food, enjoy a convention in conjunction with that other stuff) How many people really go anywhere to see another city’s football team? Hotel taxes are already pretty high there, and the city itself is not really a great bargain as it was 30 years ago. Good luck, Clark County! (My favorite anti-public-funding-of-stadiums ranter is the coyote blog http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2008/01/the-new-stadium.html)
Also: It was interesting reading the California post and comments again. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed so many people imply that you were a lazy idiot before! (I imagine you have more Berkeley people than Vegas people in your readership, so a replay is unlikely)