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Gavin to Gavin

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Robert Gavin of the Globe covered our new report Failure to Thrive underscoring the collapse in firm size and the failed policy focus the state has had for 20+ years on relocating firms to Massachusetts. I hope Kofi Jones (spokeswoman for the state’s economic development office) didn’t miss the point. Yes, Gov. Patrick, and all the Governors before him for the last quarter century, have “support[ed] and retain[ed] home-grown businesses and spurr[ed] innovation in Massachusetts.’’ But most of it has been summits (here insert “regional competitiveness councils”) and talk — and, again, not just this Governor. Two takeaways: (1) Governors have long spent way too much energy picking winners and losers (biotech tax credits, film tax credits, etc.) and paid […]

Flatline

/0 Comments/in , , /by Steve Poftak

In 2001, the US economy went through a recession. From 2002 – 2007, the US economy created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Unfortunately, Massachusetts did not share in this growth, losing close to 440,000 jobs during that period. Coming out of this recession, shouldn’t we try to figure out how to increase the number of jobs in this state? To do that, Pioneer is looking backwards at the last eighteen years to try and figure out how jobs were created and lost, and to extract lessons for the future. Our first paper, Failure to Thrive, examines the drivers of job creation and job loss over the 18 year period from 1990 to 2007. I invite you to give the paper […]

A Responsible Board of Higher Ed Would Ask

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Pioneer has weighed in on the UMASS-Dartmouth law school issue — here and here. And we’ve gotten swept up in the collective reponse, which seems to consist most of ad hominem attacks. Has anyone asked about the management team that will lead the law school to accreditation? The cornerstone of any private sector business plan is the quality of the management team. As put forward by the University, their proposal is remarkably thin on the management team. They note faculty members at UMass that have law degrees but are silent on the specific skills of managers. Has anyone asked why the proposal never provides any information on the current achievement levels of the SNESL student body or an assessment of […]

Answer This Before You Expand the Convention Center

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The Convention Center Authority has convened a panel of Boston’s great and the good to examine the prospects for expanding the BCEC. That group is tasked to expand upon a consultant’s report that leaves a lot of big questions unanswered. I’m hopeful that at least some of the group (Hi Sam! Hi Mike!) takes it upon themselves to ask some hard questions. These might include: 1) What is a realistic assessment of the number of conventions that the BCEC misses out on solely because of facility size? The formal presentation to group suggests that the number is in the hundreds (see last slide here), but in a separate presentation (slide 18 here), the number appears to be closer to 70 […]

Close Hughes?

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Pioneer has always taken the view that the state should close failing schools (including charter schools). They should also take corrective action including perhaps closure when schools prove incapable of living up to fiduciary basics like handling money and reporting results honestly. Some charter supporters have urged us to come out and support shutting Hughes down. Some are worried about the bad PR for charters. I am of a different view. If the facts demonstrate failure (academic or fiduciary), then, yes, by all means close it. But I know enough from all the work we do in Springfield and our other cities that you don’t jump to conclusions from Boston. The Hughes case is way beyond a “misunderstanding.” But will […]