This is probably highly variant depending on the jurisdiction, the company, the specific terms of a deal, and so on. The Wisconsin Foxconn deal was terribly str

This is probably highly variant depending on the jurisdiction, the company, the specific terms of a deal, and so on. The Wisconsin Foxconn deal was terribly structured, and it left taxpayers holding the bag with little protection. However, the NY Amazon deal was a good one, with the city's own projections showing a 27:1 ROI. That deal was comprised mostly of existing programs like Excelsior, ICAP, and REAP. These programs only provide a subsidy for prior results, rather than up-front lumpsums. IIRC only $500M of the total subsidy package for Amazon was in the form of a grant, and it was itself tied to investments Amazon would be obligated to make contractually. The aforementioned NY/NYC programs have been used for numerous companies, and presumably the city and state agencies operating these programs view them as successful, since they continue to offer them.