Metropolitan Economy Initiative

Globalization, technological change, and institutional and policy changes at the national and international levels have profoundly altered the economic prospects for U.S. metropolitan areas. Metropolitan business, government, and community leaders know that they need to change their own policies if their regions are to prosper. But they lack accessible, policy-relevant research that would help them decide what to do. The Metropolitan Economy Initiative is designed to fill this gap.

The Metropolitan Economy Initiative produces practical research and analysis that:

• Defines criteria for success in metropolitan economic development and determines what drives success.
• Helps metropolitan leaders understand their own regional economies (strengths, weaknesses, priorities, paths to success).

In addition, the Metropolitan Economy Initiative advances an empirically grounded menu of policy options and strategies that:

• Helps metropolitan leaders develop policies tailored to their region's assets, circumstances, and goals.
• Recommends federal and state policies that build on our knowledge of what drives metropolitan economic prosperity.
• Evaluates specific economic development policies that are commonly used or proposed (e.g. locational incentives, support for biotechnology).

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