The obvious answer is what is commonly called the inertia of dead ideas. Leaders grow up in one era but take power in the next era and they often bring along wi

The obvious answer is what is commonly called the inertia of dead ideas. Leaders grow up in one era but take power in the next era and they often bring along with them ideas that are 20 years out of date. Military historians joke “generals are always ready to fight the last war” and political leaders make mistakes of the same category. Offering billions in tax breaks to lure businesses is the kind of thing New York might have sensibly done in the 1980s when they were desperate to replace the loss of the textile industry. Such a strategy makes no sense in 2019, when an abundance of investment has clearly replaced the lost industries.