(The Center Square) – Tennessee Republican leaders have touted the state’s No. 3 ranking in CNBC’s Top States for Business this week, but the cable network’s rankings are also being questioned.
Economist J.C. Bradbury, in fact, called them “unscientific guesses of a cable channel” while including a story on how the ranking criteria has changed year-to-year.
“CNBC uses ‘marketing pitches’ of economic development agencies to guide its ratings,” Bradbury wrote. “CNBC’s business climate ranking is like People’s ‘sexiest man alive’ award. Except, most people understand that’s just for fun, not some meaningful metric.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pointed to the rankings this week, saying “TN continues to lead the nation as a Top Three State for Business, which means more jobs & greater opportunity for every Tennessean.”
Tennessee Department of Economic Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, meanwhile, gave Lee credit for the move up the rankings.
“When @GovBillLee took office in 2019, Tennessee ranked #13,” McWhorter wrote. “Today we rank #3, our best ranking yet.”
CNBC pointed out that Tennessee was ranked high in infrastructure but 43rd in “Life, Health and inclusion” because of “raging culture wars.”
Many of the states that ranked high in economy – such as top-ranked North Carolina, Tennessee, fourth-ranked Georgia, sixth-ranked Texas and eighth-ranked Florida – ranked low on the network’s “Life, Health and Inclusion” category.
CNBC ranked states on workforce, infrastructure, economy, cost of doing business, technology and innovation, business friendliness, education, access to capital, cost of living and life, health and inclusion.
Texas leaders questioned the rankings after dropping from one of the top spots out of the top five.
“People and businesses vote with their feet, and continually they are choosing to move to Texas more than any other state in the country. Texas is the economic engine of the nation, leading the nation in job creation with more Texans working today than 46 other states have in population,” Gov. Abbott’s office said in a statement.
Tennessee ranked fifth in economy and education along with being 15th in access to capital, 19th in business friendliness, 22nd in cost of living and 27th in technology and innovation.
While the rankings value economic development pitches and incentives, academic research has shown that large economic incentives for things such as Ford’s Blue Oval electric truck factory planned for outside Memphis and a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans get politicians re-elected but are not effective for their intended purpose to improve the state’s economic health.
