It is Not Always About the Money

I love this article. It was in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This piece was written by Pharhant Gopal and Vildana Hajric.

Two New York City suburbs, New Rochelle and Yonkers, are taking substantial steps to recruit millennials from Manhattan.  

The focus is on building mixed use developments of interest to millennials.  Equally important is providing the type of services that appeal to millennials. As you read the article you will see how much research was done.  It is very impressive.

Note that both suburbs enticed developers to build luxury apartments by offering two primary incentives:  long term tax breaks and rapid permit approval. 

Rapid permit approval is not generally considered a monetary incentive by most people. However, for a developer or industry, rapid permit approval ranks right up with cash and tax breaks.  Time to market definitely impacts the revenue stream and how quick profitability is achieved.   

As you read the article take note of the concerted and comprehensive effort to recruit millennials from Manhattan and New York City. It includes understanding your market, building what your research tells you the market want, and how to incent developers to partner with you.  

Link to article:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-17/how-nyc-suburbs-yonkers-and-new-rochelle-are-wooing-millennials?srnd=businessweek-v2

What You Measure is What you get

I love economics.  It is a fascinating field and is filled with incredible measurements and indices.  And remember what President Harry Truman said about economists.  “Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say 'on one hand...', then 'but on the other...”

One of the best aspects of economics is the churn of ideas and theories. One man is trying to move the conversation away from Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Dr. Mark Skousen, an economist suggested using another way to measure an economy is GO or Gross Output. This started in Great Britain.  

Dr. Skousen teaches at Chapman University.  He is also an investment adviser and author of several books. The following link takes you to an article and pod cast. It is worth the read and a listen.  

Link to article:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2019/09/09/were-using-the-wrong-measure-gdp-to-gauge-the-economys-real-health-mark-skousen/#3b1d840452fa