CHICAGO—The recent announcement by online giant Amazon that it was seeking to establish a second 50,000-person headquarters somewhere in North America has focused the minds of many on whether government incentives can help land such a big fish. At last week's RealShare Industrial conference in Chicago, participants in an afternoon panel tackled the latest developments in public-private partnerships, and it was felt that the Midwest in general has adjusted its attitude toward the use of incentives.

“Midwest states are now competitive,” said Kate Crowley, principal, Baker Tilly. She leads the firm's negotiated incentives practice, and recently was helping a manufacturing client expand its operations. Crowley could not provide details, but this particular competition came down to one southwestern state and one in the Midwest, and the latter was able to at least match the other in incentives, something that probably would not have happened several years ago.

Other recent developments have made an increased use of incentives more acceptable. The recent decision by Taiwanese flat-screen manufacturer Foxconn to locate what it claims will be a $10 billion plant in Wisconsin, for example, was helped along by a just approved $3 billion incentives package. The plant won't open until 2020, and whether the promised jobs appear is still an open question.