Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 17th Aug 2026, 04:07:51pm CEST
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1A: Who pays for AI?
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Subsidizing the Cloud: U.S. State Incentives to Data Centers 1: University of Houston, USA; 2: University of Notredame, USA Over the past two decades, many U.S. states have introduced tax incentives to attract investment in data centers. We provide causal evidence that incentives double data center construction at the state-level. However, these effects are present only for large, high-power facilities used for cloud computing and, more recently, LLMs. Smaller data centers are mostly unaffected. The incentives primarily reduce operating costs and capital expenditures, and lead to annual savings in the millions of dollars for large facilities. Despite these substantial long-term subsidies, we find no clear evidence that data centers stimulate local growth in tech employment. Is AI Trained on Public Money? Evidence from Data Centers 1: Swiss Finance Institute, Switzerland; 2: University of Lausanne, Switzerland; 3: CEPR, UK; 4: Norges Bank, Norway; 5: University of St Gallen, Switzerland Rapid data center growth has raised concerns about rising energy demand and its effects. Leveraging a novel dataset of U.S. data center energy loads, utility prices, and establishment-level outcomes, we quantify local spillover effects on electricity prices, firm performance, and emissions. Using an IV continuous DiD exploiting exogenous variation in data center location attractiveness, we find no local spillovers over 2010–2024. A regional model calibrated to the empirical null suggests that shocks larger than those observed through 2024 could still result in noticeable increases in household utility bills if not offset by regulation or external supply. | ||