2024 volume 26 issue 1
June 2024
The Summer 2024 issue of MassBenchmarks examines current conditions in the Massachusetts economy, while highlighting significant policy challenges facing our state. This issue, in particular, explores the high cost of living in Massachusetts — an ongoing concern that poses risks to the overall competitiveness of the Commonwealth. The first feature article investigates the role that investors play in residential housing markets, while offering several policy recommendations to reduce real estate speculation. The second feature examines the costs and benefits of a proposed program to provide direct financial assistance to eligible families with young children to help them cover childcare and preschool expenses. A final section describes the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s strategic vision for a more economically competitive and livable Massachusetts.
THE CURRENT ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS
Notes from the Board
Branner Stewart
The state’s economy is not as strong as initially thought, and there has been a loss in momentum.
State of the State Economy
Michael Goodman & Mark Melnik
The Massachusetts economy is clearly slowing in the face of continued inflation, high interest rates, and slight downtrends in job growth.
Highly Capitalized Investors Are Buying Up Homes Across Greater Boston
Jessie Partridge Guerrero, Alexa DeRosa, & Timothy Viall
New research by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council found that one in every five homes in Greater Boston was sold to a speculative investor, with numerous negative impacts, including on lower income neighborhoods of color.
What if Quality Child Care and Early Education Were More Affordable for Massachusetts Families?
Randy Albelda, Alan Clayton-Matthews, Anne Douglass, Christa Kelleher, Songtian Zeng, & Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson
A multidisciplinary research team from UMass Boston developed a simulator for estimating the usage and costs of quality child care and early education in the Commonwealth and for understanding the impacts of expanding financial assistance to families.
Endnotes: New Policy Directions in Housing and Economic Development
Edward Augustus, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
Yvonne Hao, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development
Introducing new policy—and new leadership—in Massachusetts housing and economic development.
