As states and nations aggressively promote their business climates, the high cost of doing business in Massachusetts requires ongoing remediation for the Commonwealth to sustain its competitive advantage.

This paper will explore the use of municipal benchmarks in Massachusetts, with particular reference to the 14 identified Middle Cities. Importantly, as with the original surveyor’s marks, the development and application of municipal benchmarks will require us to become comfortable thinking in relative terms—not always a simple task in a world where statistics often fly about faster than the speed of thought and the attractions of “absolute” comparisons (and judgements) tend to be hard to resist.

Policymakers have long grappled with the challenge of revitalizing cities whose economies have declined as manufacturing jobs moved elsewhere. Older industrial cities’ economic woes have compounded other problems, including municipal budget crises, struggling schools, high crime rates, and persistent poverty.

This report surveys 14 Massachusetts cities outside the immediate Boston metropolitan market, which other studies have identified as “weak market” or “gateway” cities. While useful designations, this report employs the term “Middle Cities.”

Robert Melia, author of Pioneer's White Paper entitled Public Profits From Private Contracts and former vice president of Policy Studies, Inc, used child support enforcement as a case study to compare private versus public delivery of human services. Melia argued that competitive contracting is often a more effective way of delivering services not because public employees are inefficient or private companies pay less, but because bureaucratic checks and balances are inherent in government.