[throwing838383]

To get people to move somewhere, you mainly just need jobs. Everybody wants jobs. There's no choice, people have to go where jobs are because employers have much more bargaining power.

So, create some large enough tax incentives for companies to move there, and people will follow.

[pchristensen]

Jobs alone aren’t enough - look at oil and gas fields in North Dakota and West Texas. You need stable employment, schools, police and fire - you know, Sim City stuff. Also, you need economic opportunity beyond just “jobs” - you need bold entrepreneurial types that tend to get stifled in a pure company town. Kind of like how a company can lose its edge if investors own too much of the company and founders too little. It’s hard to create from scratch.

The closest example to what you’re saying are the artificial capital cities like Brasilia and Canberra, but then you’re talking about the backing and resources of an entire country’s federal budget.

[hn_throwaway_99]

> So, create some large enough tax incentives for companies to move there, and people will follow.

Except companies don't just go to places because of tax incentives. Indeed, many companies (and people) stick around CA despite the super high tax burden because it has so many other things going for it. Conversely, places with very generous tax incentives can sometimes still have trouble attracting companies because the reason their tax incentives are so high is because they are lacking in other respects.

[throwing838383]

well, it depends on whether your in a high margin or low margin business or and whether or not your a monopoly business. Amazon, entertained many offers from many cities to find the best tax incentives.

I would imagine businesses that compete with low margins would be looking for such incentives.