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From the mid-1970s forward, the industrial heartland of the U.S. experienced economic decline. First one industry and then another has gone into a pattern of decline either as a result of the industrial life cycle or international competition. These processes have eroded the traditional Midwestern base of heavy and durable goods manufacture until regional unemployment levels have climbed well above national averages. Not surprisingly, this decline has stimulated state and local governments to seek means of reversing economic decline. In short, the purpose of this article is to assess the impact of a set of incentives in a manner different from the traditional approaches and to test whether previous conclusions might be methodologically bound.