Entries by Nathan Bornstein

Green energy job growth in Massachusetts following New Climate Change report published by the United Nations

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On August 9, 2021, the United Nations Climate Change Panel published one of the most comprehensive climate change assessments to date, which called for worldwide action and reform regarding waste, consumption, and fuel usage. The report stated, “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.”    According to this article by Reuters, the primary problems the report identified were rising temperatures, extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, longer and more intense seasons, gradual sea level rise, and lower ice levels in the arctic. Most importantly, the report claimed that humanity is running out of time to turn the situation around.   However, there is controversy over the report. Many reputable news sources are claiming […]

MBTA Ridership Trends Compared to Public Transportation Agencies Nationwide

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The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on our economy, and Greater Boston’s transit agency — the MBTA — also took a hit. Using Pioneer Institute’s MBTA Analysis Database, one can compare MBTA ridership trends to those of other U.S. public transportation agencies.   Table 1: Bus, Unlinked Passenger Trips Agency 2019 2020 2021 to Date Chicago Transit Authority 21,144,867 6,822,850 9,197,725 City and County of San Francisco 9,502,636 2,566,978 3,725,217 County of Miami-Dade 4,122,990 1,643,751 3,199,822 Dallas Area Rapid Transit 3,276,271 1,637,090 1,680,878 Denver Regional Transportation District 4,074,112 1,370,794 1,643,250 King County Department of Metro Transit 9,280,947 2,607,899 3,331,400 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 22,668,594 8,490,691 13,271,318 Maryland Transit Administration 5,821,031 2,524,203 2,861,492 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 8,728,580 […]

Where are Barnstable residents migrating to?

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Using Pioneer Institute’s newest database, Massachusetts IRS Data Discovery, we can see migration trends among Massachusetts citizens to other U.S. states and counties from 2019. For a specific example of migration, we can look at Barnstable County (Cape Cod) to see if there are any apparent trends in the destinations of departing Barnstable residents.   States and counties Barnstable county residents are migrating to in 2019: net returns (number of migrants to and from Barnstable): Connecticut 96 New York 44 Foreign 26 New Hampshire 24 Maryland 21 Illinois 20 District of Columbia 1 California -7 Washington -20 Virginia -21 South Carolina -22 Arizona -29 Maine -46 Rhode Island -58 Florida -352 Table 1 IRS database/AGI migration   Table 1 shows […]

Employment trends in the Greater Boston Area and Touristy Massachusetts Counties during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Using MassEconomix, Pioneer Institute’s database on employment and the economy, county-level business concentration and employment trends can be observed. Thousands of Americans lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only was this drop in employment apparent in the Boston area, but also in less densely populated Massachusetts counties. Those reliant on tourism also lost jobs.   Table 1 shows the total number of people employed in the Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Barnstable, and Berkshire counties over the past three years. In general, every county had an increase in its employee count from 2018 to 2019 but then a severe decrease from 2019 to 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Table 1 https://masseconomix.org/geography/filter-county   Figure 1 https://masseconomix.org/geography/filter-county   While counties […]

Patterns Among Cape Cod Communities with a High Proportion of Private School Students

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In Massachusetts, the association between education and demographic factors such as socioeconomic status can be elucidated by examining the New England City and Town Areas (NECTA) data. These data are from Pioneer Institute’s education data on MassAnalysis, part of the Institute’s MassWatch database.    For social, economic, and geographical reasons, certain NECTAs may have higher or lower rates of literacy, education, and public-school students. In the Barnstable, or Cape Cod NECTA, trends among communities with a high proportion of private, homeschooled, or parochial students can be observed.   Table 1 http://massanalysis.com/municipality/   The data reveal that Cape Cod appears to have a significant proportion of students who do not attend public schools, compared to other NECTAs in Massachusetts. The statewide […]

Why did some nursing homes experience more COVID-19 deaths and infections than others?

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great loss for Massachusetts and people across the country. It has been especially deadly and problematic in nursing homes, due to the age of their residents, variability in COVID-19 protocols, and underlying health conditions of elderly patients. When the virus first hit Greater Boston, it was soon apparent that older populations were at higher risk both of contracting the disease and experiencing severe symptoms. To remedy this, some nursing homes and care facilities took precautions and stringent measures to contain the virus and prevent its spread to the extent possible.      COVID long-term care facility tracker. Working with the available data from The Pioneer Institute’s COVID long-term care facility tracker, we can observe trends […]