Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee was a true believer in creating a level – and better – playing field for all business, and that that approach would bring companies to Rhode Island and grow jobs here, not tax incentives and the like.
But with this political equivalent of hiding his head in the sand, Gov. Chafee missed the opportunity to build Rhode Island's economy.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, on the other hand, believes that economic development today requires incentives.
So it is altogether logical to ask, after the first full year of Gov. Raimondo's economic-development agenda, just what has been accomplished?
Well, first off, the government apparatus for encouraging economic development, the R.I. Commerce Corp., and the Executive Office of Commerce, has grown to pre-recession levels in terms of manpower but has a significantly higher budget.
Economic-incentive programs have grown, as has the amount of money committed by the state to new and existing Rhode Island businesses.
Does Rhode Island have a lot to show for these expenditures? There certainly has been an increase in economic development activity, the poster child of which is the decision by General Electric Co. to locate 100 jobs from its digital division in Providence.
But the question of whether this approach is the right one for Rhode Island's future is not yet answerable. What we can say, however, that there is more buzz than there has been in a long while. And that is good news in and of itself. •