Lower cost of living makes possible economic modes that the already relatively high economic floor in St. Louis makes prohibitive. Plus, the relative benefit of pouring X dollars into an area with lower per capita gdp is much higher: going from 20 cents to $2.20 a day is a much bigger life change than from $10 to $12.

Still could be helpful, and I think we do see it often in some form or another, but is also subject to regulatory arbitrage: two cities pitted against each other to provide the best situation for companies, or Walmart flexing their power to get more favorable deals.

I think your St. Louis Free Economic Zone might get too many people coming for the free money and health care and not enough coming to pay tax for the books to balance.