Search Results
Journal Article
The information technology industry in New York State
We assess the prominence of the IT industry in New York State. We calculate the concentration of IT industry jobs in the state relative to the nation and identify the IT businesses that figure most importantly in new York's large metropolitan areas.
Journal Article
Regional business cycles in New York State
We track the business cycles for New York State and for major upstate metropolitan areas over the last quarter century and compare them with the national cycles. To date the regional cycles, we use a new methodology that combines several data series into a single composite measure - or index - of economic activity. Our findings show that New York State's recessions tend to last longer than the nation's, although the region's metropolitan areas have very different industrial compositions and thus different business cycles.
Journal Article
Understanding regional economic growth in the new economy: industry clusters
This article seeks to explain why industry clusters are receiving so much attention. It discusses how and why clusters form, what makes them successful, and why they are believed to contribute to regional economic growth. The article also examines what the evidence on industry clusters suggests about local economic development, and describes strategies used by communities adopting a cluster approach. The final section outlines New York State's efforts to identify the industry clusters that are important to its economy, as well as the challenges faced in this process.
Journal Article
Economic strength in rural New York
In New York State, where economic growth has been sluggish for much of the last decade, the rural economy has done relatively well. The population and labor force in rural areas are expanding, and the number of jobs growing. We take a look at this robust rural economy, examining population and job growth, industrial composition, and income patterns in the state's rural areas.
Journal Article
The demand for local services and infrastructure created by an aging population
Upstate New York, with a growing senior population, is seeing an increase in the number of frail and disabled elderly who rely on local services and infrastructure and are concentrated in the inner cities and older suburbs. While local governments and institutions will face greater pressure to provide services and infrastructure to this expanding segment, the challenge may prove especially difficult for many upstate communities, given their environment of slow economic growth and fiscal stress.
Journal Article
Vitality in upstate medical manufacturing
We describe the medical manufacturing industry generally and examine the industry's presence in upstate New York and its metropolitan areas. We show that upstate has a considerable employment concentration in the manufacture of both medical devices and pharmaceuticals. This activity is distributed widely among the region's metropolitan areas, with Buffalo, Glens Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica specializing in the industry overall and Albany showing strength in two subindustries.
Journal Article
How volatile is New York State's economy?
We measure employment volatility in New York State. We find that although New York has demonstrated slow employment growth during the postwar period, its diverse industry composition has helped make it the most stable economy in the nation. We also examine the extent to which regional volatility is due to national, as opposed to local, economic fluctuations. This examination enables us to compare the volatility of New York's major metropolitan areas with a sampling of U.S. cities. Here, we find that New York's metro areas were relatively stable during the postwar period, but some areas ...
Journal Article
Conference explores inner-city business development
The May 1 conferences titled "The untapped urban market: attracting business to the inner city," and presented by the Buffalo Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in partnership with the University at Buffalo Department of Planning, discussed the economic challenges faced by inner-city communities and explored effective strategies for business development. We summarize the various inner-city development models presented at the conference and the discussion that arose around them.
Journal Article
The aging of Upstate New York
The United States is in the midst of a powerful demographic trend: the aging of its population. Advances in medical technology and lifestyle changes have lengthened life expectancies while birth rates have declined. Moreover, the elderly share of the population will rise quickly once the 76 million-strong baby-boom generation - those born between 1946 and 1964 - begins turning 65 in just a few years. The rapid aging of the population is expected to have profound effects on all aspects of American society. This issue of Upstate New York At-a-Glance outlines the pattern of aging in the region ...
Journal Article
Economic diversity and New York State
We consider why broad-based economies have some advantages over their more specialized counterparts. We show that diversity can be a spur to productivity and innovation, and that firms in a region with many types of businesses will enjoy easy access to the resources and services needed for production. In addition, we argue that regions with a broad mix of industries possess a buffer against economic shocks that adversely affect individual industries.