Metro Policy
Getting the State Role Right on Regions
States don’t often get the state-metro relationship right on economic development, as Kenan Fikri and I observed recently in a paper on the potential of state industry cluster strategies. READ MORE >>
The Motor City? How About the Motor Region
Standing Up to the Feds on Immigration
Last summer, just as higher temperatures set in, immigration policy-making at the state level also heated up. With still no comprehensive, federal immigration reform happening, this year looks to be even hotter than last. READ MORE >>
Clustering for Cleantech Innovation
Matt Stepp of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has a good post up now over at CommentVisions on speeding up the largely under-scaled, poorly structured world energy innovation system--a hobby-horse of ours here at the Metro Program. READ MORE >>
Is natural gas energy “greener” than solar and wind? That is the surprising and unfounded contention made by Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute in a recent NYT op-ed. As it happens, our team at Brookings will be releasing a major report on the clean economy, and like scholars at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we decided to count jobs in solar and wind energy as part of the clean economy, while excluding natural gas related employment. Are we all wrong to do so? READ MORE >>
In spite of the U.S. Census data for the past decade showing continued job de-centralization, there is now much anecdotal evidence for the just the opposite. READ MORE >>
A Deeper Look at Unemployment
Last Friday’s jobs report brought some glum news. The unemployment rate remained pretty much the same from April to May of this year and the economy had added fewer jobs than needed to achieve a meaningful recovery anytime soon. However, a less cited jobs report that was released last Wednesday offers an important reminder: the unemployment situation is not the same among the nation’s metropolitan areas, nor is it improving uniformly. READ MORE >>
Will Congestion Pricing Ever Catch On Here?
Our much-discussed report Missed Opportunities demonstrated how, even when given a generous 90 minutes to do so, the nation’s public transit systems have great difficulty connecting low-income people to jobs—even when those people live in relatively densely populated areas. READ MORE >>
