Finding A Home In The New Economy

 

Looking for a home in a community that's adapting well to the new economic order?

Seek a region teeming with knowledge-based jobs and global trade. Look for a dynamic, fast-changing economy steeped in competition. And ferret out a digital economy built on an infrastructure of technological innovation.

And don't forget, while regions that operate out of the economic box can be boons for your personal goals and global progress, they can just as quickly become outposts of economic volatility that wreak havoc on the best laid plans.

Ask anyone who lives in Silicon Valley.

Ground zero for the new economy, Silicon Valley led the nation into its longest economic expansion ever. The region also led the nation into dot combustion when the bubble began to burst. The area emerges from recession fraught with economic uncertainty leaving it short of the top of the economic pecking order, according to "The 2002 State New Economy Index: Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States".

The index will make your quest for a home on the new economic range easy, but leaves it up to you to decide if you want risk putting down stakes where the new economy has bubbled up most.

The index is the work of Washington, D.C.-based Progressive Policy Institute, a Democratic Party think tank for so-called "progressive" politics and public policy. The institute ranked each of the 50 states based on innovation-oriented public policy that fosters the underpinnings of the so-called "new economy" -- an overhaul of traditional approaches to economic growth with a new order based on boosting skills, entrepreneurship and technology.

As it turned out, the Top 10 states that best exemplified adoption of the new economy were states in the Northeast and West. They were:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. Washington
  3. California
  4. Colorado
  5. Maryland
  6. New Jersey
  7. Connecticut
  8. Virginia
  9. Delaware
  10. New York

Less economically hip in the new way were states from the South and Rocky Mountain regions. They were:

41. South Carolina
42. Kentucky
43. South Dakota
44. North Dakota
45. Louisiana
46. Wyoming
47. Alabama
48. Arkansas
49. Mississippi
50. West Virginia

To achieve a ranking, each state was rated on 21 factors in five categories:

 

  • Knowledge Jobs. The study considered the level of employment of information technology professionals, managers, and technicians, the educational attainment of the entire work force and the education level of the manufacturing work force.

     

  • Globalization. States also were rated on export orientation for manufacturing and levels of direct investments in foreign markets.

     

  • Economic Dynamism, Competition. The study considered numbers of "gazelle" companies (companies with growth of 20 percent or more for four straight years); economic "churn" (a product of new business start-ups and existing business failures); and initial values in initial public stock offerings (IPOs).

     

  • Digital Economy Transformation. Technological infrastructure and online population percentages; domain name registrations; availability of technology in schools; levels of state and local governments using information technologies to deliver services; levels of Internet and computer use by farmers and manufacturers; and public access to broadband telecommunications were in this measurement.

     

  • Technological Innovation Capacity. The numbers of jobs in technology-producing industries; scientists and engineers in the work force; patents issued and industry investment in research and development and venture capital activity were considered in this category.

    Dr. Robert Atkinson, the institute's vice president and author of the report said, despite the new economy's recent bust, the new economy is here to stay and states that want more new-economy appeal must:
    bulletFocus on the quality, not just the quantity of jobs.
    bulletForm economic policy to develop a role in the global economy.
    bulletInvest in incentives that attract new business.
    bulletInvest in a skilled work force to run businesses of the new economy.
    bulletInvest in the academic and technological infrastructure necessary for innovation.
    bulletSupport industry clusters of related industries to take advantage of sharing common resources and knowledge.
    bulletBoost quality of life by reducing traffic congestion and providing housing to attract and retain high-quality workers.
    bulletHelp regions thrive outside new economy metropolitan cores.

    "Developing a vibrant New Economy is not an end in itself; it is the means to advance larger progressive goals: higher incomes, new economic opportunities, more individual choice and freedom, greater dignity and autonomy for working Americans, and stronger communities," Atkinson said.