Life Sciences Innovation as a Catalyst for Economic Development: The Role of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

This report provides an up-to-date, independent evaluation of the $1 billion, 10-year Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) charged with the responsibility of carrying out its mission. The initiative was established in July 2008 by Governor Deval Patrick's Administration and the Legislature to encourage the growth of discovery and production in the life sciences, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics, medical devices and bioinformatics in the Commonwealth. Based on the region's existing comparative advantage in life sciences research and development (R&D) emanating from the laboratories of its leading universities and medical institutions, this substantial infusion of public funds was undertaken with the ambitious goal of making this cluster of industry sectors the most successful in the world. This evaluation comes at a propitious time, given the state of fiscal affairs in the Commonwealth and the nation. Virtually every unit of government is scrutinizing the use of each tax dollar to ensure that public revenue is being spent effectively and efficiently. Put simply, our goal in this evaluation was to gather as much data as possible to assess whether the Commonwealth's sizeable commitment of public resources is paying off in the form of a life sciences "super cluster" capable of attracting massive amounts of investment dollars, generating well-paying jobs for Massachusetts residents and yielding additional tax revenue for the Commonwealth

Massachusetts Immigrants by the Numbers, Second Edition

Massachusetts Immigrants by the Numbers, Second Edition: Demographic Characteristics and Economic Footprint contains the most credible information to date on immigration in Massachusetts

The Albelda Clayton-Matthews Paid Family and Medical Leave Simulator Model Documentation

The basic strategy behind our approach to estimating the cost of a paid leave program in Massachusetts was to, as much as possible, base estimates of program costs on actual known leave-taking behavior, and where this was not possible, to estimate a range of program costs reflecting a range of reasonable assumptions about unknown aspects of behavior in the presence of a paid leave program. We wanted to be able to estimate the sensitivity of program costs estimates to these assumptions. We also wanted to be able to analyze the distribution of program benefits by demographic characteristics. Furthermore, we wanted users to be able to estimate the costs of similarly structured paid leave benefit programs in other states, to be able to have some control over the assumptions about behavior that affect program cost estimates, and to be able to undertake their own distributional analyses. We chose a simulation strategy as the best way to accomplish these goals. To obtain the best estimates possible about known leave-taking behavior, we use the Public Use Family and Medical Leave survey data collected by Abt Associates in 2012 for the Department Labor (referred to here as the DOL Survey) (McGarry, et al, 2013) to estimate behavioral models of leave-taking behavior conditional on the demographic characteristics of individuals, and use the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (hereinafter referred to as the ACS or ACS PUMS) to predict leave-taking behavior conditional on the demographic characteristics of individuals

Massachusetts Immigrants by the Numbers: Demographic Characteristics and Economic Footprint

Massachusetts Immigrants by the Numbers: Demographic Characteristics and Economic Footprint is the first ILC-commissioned study that looks across the contributions that immigrants make in all their roles as members of the Massachusetts community. It is a groundbreaking study that provides basic and new data about Massachusetts immigrants including pioneering compilations of data about immigrants as tax payers and consumers. This one report provides a comprehensive picture of immigrants' characteristics and their contributions as well as challenges to their effective integration into the economic and social life of the state. The ILC hopes that this study will reinforce its continuing mission to raise the visibility of immigrants as assets to America

Consistent economic indexes for the 50 states.

In the late 1980s James Stock and Mark Watson developed for the U.S. economy an alternative coincident index to the one now published by the Conference Board. They used the Kalman filter to estimate a latent dynamic factor for the national economy and designated the common factor as the coincident index. This paper uses the Stock/Watson methodology to estimate a consistent set of coincident indexes for the 50 states. These indexes provide researchers with a comprehensive monthly measure of economic activity that can be used to examine a number of state and regional issues.Indexation (Economics)

Some Reflections on the Woodhouse and ACC Legacy

In this summary of the symposium, Alan Clayton urges New Zealanders to recognize the uniqueness and importance of the original Woodhouse vision and the resulting Accident Compensation regime, but also encourages New Zealanders to look towards improving the system. Having placed the Woodhouse vision within its historical context, the author argues that it has stood the test of subsequent developments well but he criticises the failure to properly focus on accident prevention. While he notes a recent change in both political and administrative commitment to accident prevention, he believes that there is clearly still much work to be done

Needed skills versus available skills: an assessment tool is launched

Economic development often founders on a mismatch between available workforce skills and companies’ needs. A tool that analyzes critical sets of labor market data not previously considered in tandem can help local governments improve planning.Labor market ; Labor market - Massachusetts ; Occupational training ; Occupational training - Massachusetts

Economic Currents: The State of the State Economy

While no longer contracting, the Massachusetts economy has not yet turned the corner, either. Delays in the recovery of the technology sector, along with state government fiscal problems, have offset modest expansion in health, education, and residential real estate. But consumer confidence and spending, buoyed by low interest rates and rising home equity, have been making up for weak business capital spending. Could slow growth be just ahead

Fueled by Technology Market Demand, Massachusetts Economic Growth Increases

The pace of economic growth in Massachusetts has picked up significantly, beginning in the fourth quarter of last year, reflecting improved worldwide markets for information technology equipment in the last half of 2005. This resurgence in technology markets helped reverse a deceleration in state economic growth that the state experienced between mid-2004 and the third quarter of 2005. The Massachusetts economy has performed better over the last six months than at any time since the current expansion began in the second quarter of 2003. The recent pace of expansion matched the long-term average growth in real gross state product of 3.6 percent over the 1975–2004 period