The New Republic

So if you haven’t found a job yet: You’re better off coming to the city than sitting on your parents’ couch. Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Remarks at the Cornell University 2012 Convocation, May 27, 2012 READ MORE >>

Trash. Just the sound of the word brings to mind rotten food, mountainous landfills, and general noxiousness. But what if a city turned this image on its head? What if trash became a city resource? What if landfills became a relic of the past? READ MORE >>

Guest post by Thomas Toch Some school reformers said it would never happen. But after spending nearly two decades launching thousands of charter schools to challenge traditional public school systems, the Teach for America generation of social entrepreneurs who poured out of the nation’s best colleges bent on transforming urban education are now moving into leadership positions in the very school systems they sought to replace. READ MORE >>

Facebook’s IPO (Initial Public Offering) is projected to value the company at $104 billion. Reportedly, only Visa has had a larger IPO. Only time will tell if Facebook is really worth such an astronomical sum, but one thing about it is not all extraordinary: Its location in the Bay Area. From 1996 to 2006, 9 percent of all U.S. IPOs were headquartered in the San Francisco metropolitan areas--where Facebook is located--and another 10 percent came from the San Jose metro area. READ MORE >>

Earlier this week, after a lengthy period of uncertainty, the Senate passed the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) of the United States. This is good news, as my colleague Devashree Saha has detailed in other postings, as the Ex-Im Bank is an important element of our National Export Initiative and a critical source of needed financing for would-be U.S. exporters. READ MORE >>

In a rare bipartisan compromise, the House last week approved the reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, ensuring that the bank will continue to provide critical financial assistance to U.S. firms that export their products. The Senate is also expected to act soon which will hopefully put an end to months of uncertainty over the fate of the bank, seen as a vital tool for job creation and economic growth. READ MORE >>

There is a strain of thought among some policy experts that manufacturing, especially in the Midwest, is a dead-end for regional economic development. READ MORE >>

American manufacturing is basically the same everywhere. It’s an albatross around the necks of places that depend on it, preventing them from attracting the “creative class,” which drives economic development today. Except in a few very high tech industries, such as pharmaceuticals, manufacturers are looking for lower costs above all else. That’s why, if they’re staying in the United States at all, they’re moving to low-wage locations.  Metropolitan areas, with their higher costs, offer manufacturers no special advantages. READ MORE >>

States and localities have long regarded corporate tax incentives as handy tools for economic development. Experts, meanwhile, have equally long found occasion for criticism in their implementation.   Now, steadily accumulating evidence suggests that states are getting smarter in their design of incentive packages and that the practice is changing, gradually, for the better. READ MORE >>

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