Posted on 06/20/2014 6:58:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In a slow, uneven economic recovery, some cities have managed not only to survive but even to thrive. Their stories, along with those of the not-so-successful, are the subject of this study. Using data since 2009 for the nation’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), we identify leaders and laggards as measured by growth in economic output (GDP), personal income, and jobs. Among the 100 largest MSAs—which together make up about two-thirds of the nation’s population—we take a detailed look at the top 20 and bottom 20 economic performers. For each of these metros, we examine a number of factors that may be spurring its growth or holding it back: What are the dominant industries? What types of occupations have grown the most (or the least) in income and job count? Where are tax policies most and least friendly to business? Which MSAs have the most college graduates? Which have the most Fortune 500 companies? Which depend most and least on government for jobs and income?
This analysis turns up no simple formula for success but does lead to some tentative conclusions about the conditions that help foster economic leadership in today’s economy. Here are some key findings:
If there is one lesson here for policymakers, it is to understand the inherent strengths of a place and to make the most of them. This commonsense advice is not always heeded, especially when natural resources are at issue. Metros with oil and gas wealth can choose to exploit these assets or leave them in the ground. For the foreseeable future, the first of those options is likely to make them richer, if not greener. Local governments and business leaders also need to heed demographic trends and take advantage of them. Whatever happens at the policy level, health care will be a source of steady growth as the population ages. Metros that earn a reputation for excellence in medicine stand to gain by serving not only their own residents but also those who come from elsewhere to receive world-class care. And whatever the comparative advantages a metro can claim, it is always wise to observe the rule of “do no harm” in dealing with job-producing businesses. Measuring business-friendliness is an inexact science at best, but a reputation for high costs and overregulation is never a good thing to have.
Detroit is a top performer.
Pittsburgh is the top performer in Pennsylvania proper not so much because of the city itself but because all of the gas and oil extraction in the surrounding counties.
This Commonwealth is about to p*ss all that advantage away by electing Ed Rendell's bag man as governor who has declared his intention to tax the industry to pay for the bottomless pit of "education." Smart move considering that we have already some of the best paid teachers and highest per pupil expenditures in the nation. But show me a public school system anywhere who admits they already have enough money or are "fully funded."
“Who’s Leading The Recovery”
The recovery? Being the king of mediocrity doesn’t make anyone royalty.
We have 81,000 Americans EVERY MONTH going on Social Security Disability. We have over 30,000,000 Americans drawing food stamps every month. Look at the numbers of government employees (excluding military). Has that increased in the last ten years?
If I go to the VA, I have to go past armed guards. If I go to the Social Security office, I have to go past armed guards. A government that has to arm itself against its own citizens is a government out of control. This article is just whistling past the graveyard.
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