Research Design The research approach used in the article by Lambert and Coomes (2001) is a quasi-experimental design. The article evaluates the efficacy of the enterprise zone (EZ) program in Louisville, Kentucky, which was initiated in 1980 in response to “a rise in inflation, price hikes, poor monetary policy, and intense foreign competition” in this region (Lambert & Coomes, 2001, p. 171). Its original goals were to stimulate economic activity, promote the general well-being of the inhabitants, and eradicate blighted urban districts. The authors used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the EZ program by assessing its economic benefits before and after implementation, and comparing it with selected non-EZ regions. The quasi-experimental design was appropriate as the study involved many extraneous variables, which made accurate measurement of the program’s benefits impracticable. The authors cite three reasons why a pure experimental design would not have worked. First, the zone was expanded twice, in 1984 and 1986, to include other areas not originally included in the EZ (Lambert & Coomes, 2001). Thus, in effect, the EZ had three distinct zones, which made it difficult to quantify the actual benefits of the EZ program using an experimental approach. Moreover, a paucity of records could not allow one to attribute costs or benefits to a particular zone definition (Lambert & Coomes, 2001). Second, a proliferation of economic projects in Louisville such as the airport project meant that less economic benefits could be directly attributed to the EZ program. Kentucky’s United Parcel Service (UPS) capitalized on the new infrastructure to expand their activities, which brought on board an additional 10,000 employees. Additionally, other state economic development programs and legislations such as the Kentucky Industrial Development Act and the Jobs Act created favorable conditions for businesses to thrive. This attracted major investments from various companies, which created more jobs for the residents. Third, the new investments in the EZ came with external costs (Lambert & Coomes, 2001). Firms from other regions moved their businesses to Louisville to take advantage of favorable tax regimes. However, this brought unintended external costs as firms that had incurred huge losses relocated to the EZ. Although the effect of these extraneous variables was significant, they were beyond the control of the researchers. In this regard, a quasi-experimental approach was appropriate since this design does not require researchers to control for the effects of extraneous variables. Moreover, since the EZ project was expanded twice (1984 and 1986) to include districts that were initially left out, a random assignment of the regions under the EZ program (experimental group) and areas outside the EZ region (control group) could not have been possible. The project covered a period of 13 years, during which the EZ was expanded to include Louisville’s airport, an industrial park, Ford Motors factory, and some residential homes (Lambert & Coomes, 2001). Thus, in this evaluation, a random assignment of the areas (urban districts) into the treatment and control groups was not possible, which ruled out a pure experimental design. In this article, it is easy for one to draw causal inferences. The authors’ descriptive an