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Opportunity
September 5, 2007

Massachusetts and the Copernican Principle

In rough terms, the Copernican Principle states that we should assume we are not special (i.e. the universe does not revolve around us). So why does Massachusetts think it’s so exceptional? Three examples: Auto Insurance — 49 other states have some form...
Opportunity
September 4, 2007

Quo Vadis?

Ross Gittell in the New England Journal of Higher Education/Summer 2007 edition (“Demographic Demise”) neatly summarizes why the New England region should be concerned about future growth. The data on our inability to recruit and retain the 25-34 cohort is pretty dramatic....
Healthcare, Opportunity
August 21, 2007

Counterintuitive Thoughts on Healthcare Costs

Back in October, we released a paper on business costs in Massachusetts. One of the surprising conclusions was that our healthcare costs were not terribly out of line with our competitor states. This was a real surprise and ran counter to a...
Opportunity
August 20, 2007

Thoughts on housing and Middle Cities

Housing is critical to the viability of Middle Cities, because housing development is the ticket to bringing a younger demographic and spending power back downtown—and therefore to fiscal solvency. These cities are built for and the leadership in these cities comfortable with...
Opportunity
August 15, 2007

Conventional Wisdom Confusion (plus a MS Word bonus)

Organic is good. Walmart is bad. Right? So what happens when Whole Foods (a huge seller of organic items) forces its suppliers to sell through (higher cost) distributors to Walmart, thereby raising prices and limiting the potential market for organic food. So...
Opportunity
August 8, 2007

Will they return the money?

Today’s New York Times reports that the ethanol boom, among other reasons, is driving up the price of farmland, particularly in corn-growing areas of states like Iowa. Good thing we’ve subsidized agriculture to the tune of $164.7 billion from 1995 to 2005....
Opportunity
July 25, 2007

Welcome Aboard the Massachusetts Business Cost Express!

A hearty welcome to the New England Public Policy Center at the Boston Fed. They’ve just released a memo detailing some of the high costs facing Massachusetts’ business (PDF, or link). Their findings include: Massachusetts does not have right-to-work laws, which “[m]ost...
Education, Opportunity
July 18, 2007

How to watch and listen to Gov. Patrick's BGC address

One of the highlights of last month’s Better Government Competition was Governor Patrick’s well-received keynote address. We’re pleased that the speech will be broadcast on C-SPAN Radio, XM Satellite Channel 132, at 10 am on Sunday, July 22. If you can’t bear...
Opportunity
July 17, 2007

The new math of convention madness

The Boston Business Journal today reports that the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority is issuing an RFP to expand the Bonston Convention & Exhibition Center. The request for proposals is for the development of a master plan for the BCEC that will provide an envelope...
Opportunity
July 5, 2007

Slow to act

Post haste it is not. I received a few days ago a letter from a friend in DC. She had apparently cut out a newspaper article from May 2nd and sent it to me. Now, I don’t know what blue plate special...