Author: Art Woolf
Vermont is driving retail business out of state with its sales tax. The Atlantica project is examining the International Northeast as one interconnected economic zone. As part of this multi-year research initiative, AIMS is releasing A RIVER DIVIDES IT: A Comparative Analysis of Retailing in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire authored by Art Woolf, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont. This paper shows how damaging the effects of poor public policy can be in a region where people and businesses can escape the consequences of that policy merely by crossing a nearby border.
This study examines the nature and extent of changes in retail activity in the border counties of Vermont and New Hampshire over the past forty years. The border counties have exhibited similar rates of population growth over that period, but the economic growth rates of the two regions have diverged significantly.