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

Joséphine Erni on Bringing Swiss Innovation to the U.S. Market

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Joséphine Erni, Innovation Lead at Swissnex in Boston and New York, and immigrant from Switzerland. She explains how building collaborations between the highly entrepreneurial Swiss and the world’s biggest market, the U.S., gives rise to incredible innovations that benefit the world.

Josh Bedi on How Immigrants Boost Native Entrepreneurship

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Dr. Joshua Bedi, child of an immigrant and postdoctoral researcher in entrepreneurship in the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. He is the son of an immigrant who relocated from India to Jackson, Mississippi, and started a business. It was a simple neighborhood gas station, but also a symbol of what hardworking immigrants can do to boost innovation and business generation in host countries, as you’ll learn in this week’s JobMakers podcast.

Pioneer Institute Statement on Question 1

Yesterday, voters came closer than many expected to rejecting the largest tax increase in Massachusetts history, even though opponents were dramatically outspent by the unions that bankrolled the amendment to the state Constitution. 

Steve Tobocman and Mamba Hamissi on How Refugees Are Revitalizing Detroit

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Steve Tobocman, head of the economic development nonprofit Global Detroit, and one of the thousands of refugee business owners he’s assisted, Mamba Hamissi, Burundi native and co-founder of Baobab Fare, an East African restaurant.

Grading State Governors: Do Higher Taxes Equate To Higher Value?

This week on Hubwonk, host Joe Selvaggi talks with Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards about the new report he co-authored entitled, "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors 2022." They discuss how Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s fiscal stewardship compares with other states, and explore whether higher tax rates and spending correlate with better state performance and resident satisfaction.

The Causes and Potential Cures for Inflation

This week on Hubwonk, Harvard economist and Pioneer Institute board member Ed Glaeser interviews Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus of Harvard University, for a special episode on the origins of inflation, its impact on the American economy, and a roadmap to recovery.

Sheetal Bahirat Turns a Profit on Food Waste

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Sheetal Bahirat, founder and CEO of Hidden Gems Beverage Company, maker of Reveal Avocado Seed Brew, and immigrant from India. Food waste is an understudied and underutilized component of our daily lives with huge implications for our bodies and the planet - it is the number one contributor to climate change.

How did tax hikes work out for Connecticut?

Pioneer Institute's Charlie Chieppo shares data on the economic impact of tax increases in Connecticut - which has the 2nd highest state and local tax burden in the country and ranks 49th in private sector wage and job growth. As Massachusetts considers a proposal to raise income taxes, it is important to learn from the experience of other states. Learn more.

Income Inequality Explored: Wage Gap Overlooks Government Intervention

This week on Hubwonk, host Joe Selvaggi talks with John F. Early, economist and author of the newly released book, The Myth of American Inequality, about the history of income inequality, its true size, and trends. They also discuss how census data used in policy decision-making misses nearly all the effects of government intervention and distorts the truth about the income American families actually have to spend.