The Rutgers study took a macroeconomic approach in an attempt to look at the ripple effects of the tax, and not just its impact on directly affected industries.
Michael L. Lahr, a public policy professor at Rutgers and the study’s primary author, said he expected to see that the tax had a positive effect on the city’s economy once researchers looked at the impact of improved access to child care. But he didn’t expect to find that there was even a small net employment increase of 216 jobs without taking parental employment into account, thanks largely to jobs growing faster in childcare and government than they fell in the beverage industry.