Home

Economic Opportunity

Opportunity
May 18, 2007

A non-conventional pain in the butt, but. . .

Jeff Jacoby was right on in his Globe op-ed of May 6th on the rush to get even more subsidies for the Hynes Convention Center. In the piece, Jeff compares Patrick Lyons’ private investment proposal on Lansdowne Street to the Massachusetts Convention...
Opportunity
May 15, 2007

If you think education is expensive, try foreclosure.

This year’s collapse of mortgage lending—also rendered as a crisis, a bubble bursting, the inevitable result of misguided policy x, and so on—has gotten a lot of press recently. In response, some have called for more regulation, tighter credit, or another solution...
Opportunity
May 15, 2007

Only big businesses move, right? Wrong!

Even if we lose all our headquarters, even if big business expansions go elsewhere, we can always count on small businesses to stay here and grow, right? Wrong. We’ve all heard the constant drumbeat about Fidelity’s moves and expansions elsewhere—they’re going to...
Opportunity
May 13, 2007

A Troubling Pattern Emerging?

Friday’s Globe has two articles on recent actions by the Governor — a view on his $1B biotech initiative and news of a $3.6 million bailout for the dairy industry. The biotech story discusses how this funding will help start-up companies through...
Opportunity
May 3, 2007

Unemployment Insurance -- Why You Should Care

The irascible Jon Keller gets it exactly right in a recent post on his blog — unemployment insurance reform is “crucial part of restoring job growth” in the state. In our recent study on the cost of doing business in Massachusetts, we...
Opportunity
April 22, 2007

Build it and they will come?

I think we have heard that one before. So now we are going to build a $1.4 billion commuter line to New Bedford, even though the T can’t afford it, even though that will add to the ongoing costs of the T...
Opportunity
April 17, 2007

Crime in Urban Areas - Perception and Reality

At Pioneer’s February conference on Revitalizing Middle Cities (where we released this paper), we had the opportunity to hear from the Police Commissioner and Economic Development Director for Springfield. Dave Panagore, Springfield’s Economic Development Director, noted that the police force (and public...
Opportunity
February 8, 2007

Rehabbing Urban Redevelopment: Working Paper on Building the Next Urban Economy

This report surveys 14 Massachusetts cities outside the immediate Boston metropolitan market, which other studies have identified as “weak market” or “gateway” cities. A number of the Commonwealth’s cities have had difficulty adapting to large-scale changes in the national and global economies....
Opportunity
November 1, 2006

Housing Programs in Weak Market Neighborhoods: Developing the Right Tools for Urban Revitalization

Author: Peter A. Gagliardi, Executive Director, HAP Inc. This paper will focus on programs that subsidize the building or rehabilitation of units for owner occupancy, as opposed to the development of rental properties. Most weak market neighborhoods already feature a high proportion...
Opportunity
October 1, 2006

Measuring Up? The Cost of Doing Business in Massachusetts

Author: Global Insight This study shows that, on average, Massachusetts firms have costs 20-30% higher than similar companies in Texas, North Carolina, and New Hampshire in nine key industries. As a result, average after-tax profit levels in those states are about twice...