How New York State Can Grow Its Economy

By Carl Schramm

Everyone wants a New York that is economically stronger.  The state government has a major hand to play and it's in everyone's interest to help get the correct public policy interventions in place.  Deep in New York’s history, Albany largely saw itself as improving the state's economic chances with very large public works projects – building the canal, the Thruway, the Olympic venue at Lake Placid, and the state university system. 

The cardinal economic problem New York faces is demographic.  Of course it has depopulating cities, is losing industry, has seriously underperforming schools, and a decaying tax base.  But each of these problems ultimately relates to the dynamics of who is living in New York.  In the last decade nearly two million people left New York, the majority moving to states with lower taxes, less regulation and greater economic opportunity.  How do we know?  Not only do copious anecdotal accounts tell us this; IRS data say the out-migrants went to states without income taxes, or with lower taxes, or, in all cases, with growing economies. [more...]