Some reasoned response to news that Massachusetts is losing population. Add to that worries that the housing market is going to drive the whole state away.
My sentiments, though, are expressed by Chimes at Midnight:
What Humble Elias doesn’t understand is this, if the population is falling and the high tech jobs are shifting out of state, why are real estate prices still rising?
Because the numbers of people leaving still aren’t all that great. If housing prices drive a significant number away, demand will drop and prices will level off.
But, more to the point, the economic problems facing Massachusetts are real problems to be concerned about, but not a crisis. Take the bigger perspective. Nationwide, we’re in a soft recession -one that’s characterized by middling employment figures. It’s also a recession that’s hit certain sectors harder than others. Finance and technology - and the allied culture industries like marketing, advertising, public relations and graphic design - were particularly hard hit. Note that the metropolitan regions weighted heavily in these sectors - New York, Boston, Chicago, all of California - are those with significant population loss.
I’ve always faulted Mitt Romney for his odd notion that the governor’s office should be the Chamber of Commerce-in-chief of the state. I suppose I’ll fault him for not even pretending to do this when in office. But no amount of courting of individual companies will likely stem the pull of large, macroeconomic and sectoral tides.
Maybe we can have a conversation about how to diversify our economy more (though I can’t readily point to any state or municipality that’s truly hedged). Maybe we can be smarter about pro-business measures that don’t cost us more than they bring. Maybe we can build a lot more housing. But these really are long term strategies, not solutions to a short-term economic Massachusetts stagflation. In any case, these would be equally good things to do if we weren’t losing population.
Just remember how fast our economy grew - and, with it, demand to live here - in the mid-90s and realize the sky might not be falling after all.
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