TWO ECONOMIC INDEXES show that Rhode Island is coming back from the Great Recession, but at a less-than-robust pace. It’s not a surprise, according to Providence College professor of business innovation M. Cary Collins. “Given the economic engine we have, I’m surprised we’re doing that well,” he said. Still, “it looks like we are growing at half the nation’s rate, and that’s West Virginia-like performance, and that’s not good enough.”
The first chart shows the cumulative growth as measured by the Rhode Island Current Economic Indicator (produced by Bryant University economist Edinaldo Tebaldi and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council) and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis real Gross Domestic Product in 2009 dollars from 2012 through 2014. The second chart compares cumulative growth using the PBN/e-forecasting.com Leading Economic Indicator Index and U.S. GDP for the same period. •
