I think you hit on a key point that is lost in the "business friendly" discussion that pervades US politics and is singularly focused on tax relief. Whereas any

I think you hit on a key point that is lost in the "business friendly" discussion that pervades US politics and is singularly focused on tax relief. Whereas anybody who has worked in some kind of relocation strategy knows that tax is only one lever among many to incentivize companies. The biggest lever, in a knowledge economy, is availability of high skilled talent. Simple math suggests that to hire 5000 engineers, you need to interview 50k engineers, which means you need 200-300k at the top of the funnel. Thus, it turns out that the biggest incentive to attract businesses is to make your city attractive for talent. An area with a large talent pool is the most business friendly place, period. And then you have to ask why do such talent concentrate on certain areas of the country and what those areas are doing right.