Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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USA Today has an interesting article about how Grand Rapids, Michigan has gotten a boost to its economy from a modest arts prize awarded each year by a private donor. This raises the issue of whether some communities may use similar methods to more systematically provide economic development. A local government could adopt something like an artistic freedom voucher system to encourage creative workers (e.g. musicians, writers, artists, etc) to live in their city. Since these people would want to get support from the local population through the voucher system, they would have a strong incentive to perform frequently. This could turn a city into an arts mecca.