Be it ever so modest, Rhode Island's recovery is reigniting the debate over which economic-development policies are the best ones to implement. And despite the wonky subject matter, it is one that touches some very emotional issues.
At their core, nearly all economic-development programs involve targeted investments – through actual money or through tax breaks – to certain industries and even companies.
Small-government advocates, as well as many economists, see this approach in the context of government "picking winners," something that they feel strongly will not lead to broad-based economic growth.
The problem with that perspective in Rhode Island today is that it does not take into account what has happened to the Ocean State's economy in the last few decades.
As Gov. Gina M. Raimondo noted last week in her state-of-the-state/budget address, the decline in the number of high-paying jobs has fallen in the recent time period at a greater rate in Rhode Island than in nearly any other state, weakening our overall economic health.
Raimondo's proposed fiscal 2017 budget recognizes the imperative to rebuild the state's economy with a greater percentage of high-paying jobs. Any other approach is just sticking one's head in the sand.
For that reason, her innovation-campus competition (at a price tag to the public of $20 million, plus whatever the private sector brings to the table) is a smart, innovative use of public resources to put the state back in a good position through the creation of jobs in innovative industries. •