The bipartisan Economic Innovation Group (EIG) looked at two research papers that examined Opportunity Zones (OZs). Although not perfect — no policy is — the "sharp departure from previous attempts" shows a path that future government actions in the area might model themselves on.

The first paper, Locally Optimal Place-Based Policies: Evidence from Opportunity Zones, by economist Harrison Wheeler, looked at how OZs affected new residential and commercial development.

"Using a novel dataset on the location and timing of new development projects in large U.S. cities, I find that receiving the tax credit increases new development in census tracts by 2.9pp (20.5%). I also find positive spillovers on nearby development," Wheeler wrote. "Both effects are larger in neighborhoods with more available land to develop, more elastic housing supply, and lower home values. Through a model of new development that accounts for location-heterogeneities, dynamics, localized spillovers, and the equilibrium behavior of developers, I find that the policy as implemented had city-wide impacts on new development on the order of 2.7%." However, optimally chosen OZs "would have substantially increased the investment response," meaning there is significant room to improve the results.