Editorial Staff

Pioneer Report Offers Framework for Improving Greater Boston’s Global Competitiveness

/in , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

BOSTON – Today, Boston is a fixture in rankings of the world’s top 40 “global cities.” But to become even more attractive to international companies and investors, Boston-area leaders must work to improve housing and healthcare affordability, transportation infrastructure, economic development policies, and education, according to a new study from Pioneer Institute.

Read the Report

“Over recent decades, our world-renowned colleges and universities have played a catalytic role in driving Greater Boston’s ecosystem of innovation in finance, healthcare, and technology,” said Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios. “Pioneer’s new report, Greater Boston as a Global Competitor, identifies those areas and provides useful metrics to help Massachusetts formulate a strategy to become an even more attractive place for innovators and talent.”

In 1991, sociologist Saskia Sassen defined a ‘global city’ as including “highly concentrated command points in the organization of the world economy.” Since then, top consulting and research organizations such as Kearney and the Institute for Urban Strategies have issued numerous reports on the concept.

Drawing from these and other “global cities” rankings, Pioneer synthesized dozens of economic, lifestyle, and governance indicators into five categories of importance to Boston’s profile in the international competition for talent and investment: Education, Economics, Innovation and R&D, Healthcare, and Transportation.

“Policymakers as well as the region’s private and public education institutions made important decisions that helped support the rapid development of key world-leading industries in Massachusetts,” said Andrew Mikula, author of the Pioneer study. “Increasing Boston’s standing on the global stage will require that today’s policymakers work hard to maintain our strengths and apply them to new and pressing challenges.”

Many of the region’s shortcomings as a global competitor concern issues of equity, accessibility, and efficiency, whether in education, transportation, housing, or the labor market.

Despite having public schools that are among the nation’s highest performers overall, Massachusetts can still use education to more effectively foster civic engagement and close persistent income- and race-based achievement gaps.

Pioneer’s study builds off the framework of existing rankings to identify constructive actions the region can take to serve its unique needs, illustrating the importance of competitiveness metrics in a still-growing region.

About the Author

Andrew Mikula is the Lovett & Ruth Peters Economic Opportunity Fellow at the Pioneer Institute. Research areas of particular interest to Mr. Mikula include urban issues, affordability, and regulatory structures. Mr. Mikula was previously a Roger Perry Government Transparency Intern at the Institute and studied economics at Bates College.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.

Get Updates on Our Economic Opportunity Research

Related Content

Visit MassEconomix: Analyze local, regional, and state data on employment, business, and industry trends

New Study Finds Pandemic-Spurred Technologies Lowered Barriers to Exit in High-Cost States

Both employers and households will find it easier to leave major job centers as technologies made commonplace by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a rethinking of the geography of work, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Interstate Legal Skirmish: New Hampshire Takes Massachusetts Telecommuter Tax to the Supreme Court

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with legal scholar and George Mason University Law Professor Ilya Somin about the details, the merits, and the likely implications of the Supreme Court case, New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, on state taxation power, federalism, and the power to vote with one’s feet.

Connecticut’s Painful Journey: Wealth Squandered, Lessons Learned, Promise Explored

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s President and CEO, Chris DiPentima, about what policy makers can learn from Connecticut’s journey from the wealthiest state in the nation, to one with more than a decade of negative job growth.

New Study Shows Significant Wealth Migration from Massachusetts to Florida, New Hampshire

Over the last 25 years, Massachusetts has consistently lost taxable income, especially to Florida and New Hampshire, via out-migration of the wealthy, according to a new Pioneer Institute study. In “Do The Wealthy Migrate Away From High-Tax States? A Comparison of Adjusted Gross Income Changes in Massachusetts and Florida,” Pioneer Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan and Research Assistant Andrew Mikula draw on IRS data showing aggregate migration flows by amount of adjusted gross income (AGI). The data show a persistent trend of wealth leaving high-tax states for low-tax ones, especially in the Sun Belt.

Intrepid Restauranteurs Endure: Passion for Community, Patrons, and Staff Mean Failure is Not on the Menu

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Massachusetts Restaurant Association President and CEO Bob Luz about the devastating effects of the pandemic and lockdowns on restaurants.  They discuss the industry's creative strategy for survival, plans for reaching beyond the crisis, and the many positive improvements for this vital sector that employs 10% of the workforce in the commonwealth.

California Tax Experiment: Policy Makers Receive Valuable Economics Lesson

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Stanford University Economics Professor Joshua Rauh about his research on the reaction of Californians to a tax increase, from his report, “The Behavioral Response to State Income Taxation of High Earners, Evidence from California.” Prof. Rauh shares how his research offers tax policy makers insight into the likely effects of similar increases in their own states, including here in Massachusetts.

New Study Finds Tax Policy Drives Connecticut’s Ongoing Fiscal & Economic Crisis

Multiple rounds of tax increases aimed at high earners and corporations triggered an exodus from Connecticut of large employers and wealthy individuals, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Unemployment Insurance Rescue: Employer Advocate Seeks Relief to Catalyze Pandemic Recovery

0 Comments
/
Joe Selvaggi talks with John Regan, President and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, about the impact of higher UI rates on employers and what legislators can do to help mitigate the pain.

MBTA Cuts Ahead: COVID Causes Commuters To Consider Comprehensive Changes

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Institute Senior Fellow Charlie Chieppo discuss the reasons for the recently proposed cuts to MBTA service, and offer suggestions as to how the agency’s leadership could use this crisis to improve the service’s long-term health.