High state taxes scare scientists away

High state taxes on prosperous individuals and corporations keep star scientists from relocating to some states, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper gives new evidence for the argument that lower taxes make some states more attractive to employers and highly-skilled workers.

The paper was authored by Enrico Moretti with the University of California, Berkeley, and Daniel Wilson, with the Federal Reserve Bank of California. Moretti and Wilson examined United States patents filed between 1976 and 2010 and other data to reach their conclusions.