A study by the NC Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Division determined incentives to the film industry only return $0.194 per $1.00 invested. The measly returns are consistent with findings in other states. Jon Sanders of the John Locke Foundation has this to say about ignoring opportunity costs in calculating economic impact:
If through taxation government takes money that already has productive purposes in other areas, and instead puts the money in a government-selected area, it’s not enough to quantify downstream effects in the government-selected area when government action has put an end to all downstream effects elsewhere.
