The state's early economic policy was to provide farmers with access to markets by improving transportation facilities. During the Civil War era, Indiana encouraged industrial growth. In modern times, the state has financed extensive highway construction, developed deepwater ports on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River, and worked to foster industrial growth and develop its tourist industry. Tax incentives to business included a phase out, by 1994, of the "intangibles" tax on stocks, bonds, and notes.
In the 1990s, the state government focused on a series of economic development initiatives. These included programs offering job training and retraining, the promotion of new businesses and tourism, the development of infrastructure, and the provision of investment capital for start-up companies—as well as programs providing additional tax incentives. The Department of Commerce, which has sole responsibility for economic development, solicits new businesses to locate in Indiana, promotes sales of exports abroad, plans the development of energy resources, continues to foster the expansion of agriculture, and helps minority-group owners of small businesses. The department's Industrial Development Fund makes loans to municipalities for the purchasing or leasing of property for industrial development. In the 2000 budget, the General Assembly provided $50 million for Governor O'Bannon's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to stimulate high-technology development.