The frenzy to win Amazon’s new HQ could come at a price

OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS OFFICIALS IN DOZENS OF American cities have been working overtime to prove that they are prime for Amazon. The Kansas City, Mo., mayor’s office ordered 1,000 items from the Seattle-based behemoth—ranging from a hot-dog costume to wind chimes—and then wrote reviews for each product. The city of Birmingham, Ala., built Amazon boxes the size of bread trucks and displayed them around town. A town in Georgia proposed donating some of its own land and renaming it after the e-commerce giant. And that’s on top of the countless hours that economic developers have spent writing more serious proposals for one of the world’s most valuable companies. As a representative for the Dallas Regional Chamber says, “It’s