Major residential, commercial and industrial developments throughout the country are subject to an array of federal and state laws designed to protect the environment, buttressed nearly everywhere by local land-use regulations addressing the community impacts of such projects. Read More
Upstate New York has been declining economically for decades, relative to both the rest of the state and to the nation as a whole. Upstate cities, reeling from a significant long-term loss of jobs and people, are among New York's most fiscally distressed municipalities. What do the latest economic data tell us about the path of the upstate economy? What are the prospects for a revival of the region and its cities? To what extent might natural gas "fracking" boost growth? We invite you to join us for the presentation of a pair of Empire Center reports delving into those questions -- culminating in a keynote from an internationally recognized leader in entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth. Read More
The upper crust of local-government employees tends to wear uniforms and carry badges, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank that crunched public payrolls for cities, counties, towns and villages in New York. Sixteen police officers, all working downstate, dominated the list of New York’s 20 best-paid local employees in 2012-13. Two more on the list were Westchester County corrections officers. All of the top 20 earned more than $250,000 for the year, the Empire Center said... Read More
Saddled with yet another high-priced mandate from Albany, Mayor Giuliani and the City Council are rethinking their tax-cutting agenda. But curtailing tax cuts now would represent a step backward from policies that have contributed to the city's strongest private-sector employment growth in a half century. Read More
From the perspective of Labor Day 2006, employment and wage trends in New York since the beginning of this decade could be described as a tale of two sectors: private and public. Read More
After the record jump in Wall Street bonuses early this year, a slowdown in personal-income growth in New York and other finance-intensive states was inevitable in the second quarter. Read More
You know New York is in real trouble when it needs an economic reality check from the ex-KGB hood who rules Russia. Read More
Could New York’s state government realize significant savings by encouraging private-sector firms to challenge entrenched public-sector monopolies? Read More