Data for Evidence Based Policy
As a child in the 1950s, I lived in the New Jersey suburbs near New York City. Although the metropolitan area was racially diverse, the suburbs were not. I first lived in Wood-Ridge, a small town where none of my schoolmates were Black or Hispanic. In 1958, my family moved to Maplewood, adjacent to Newark, which had a large Black population. Yet only six of the 550 students in my high school…
A large-scale data center campus known as Project Double Reed is planned for the STAMP industrial site in Genesee County. According to the applicant's February 18, 2026 SEQR filing, the project would occupy roughly 90 acres, divided between a 60-acre North Campus and a 30-acre South Campus. It is designed as an extremely power-intensive facility: the project's utility filing says it is expected to…
The Rockefeller Institute of SUNY released a report on March 2nd, "The Economic Impact of Disability Services Providers in New York and NYSID: New Developments." The report was funded by two disability services-related organizations: the New York Alliance for Innovation and Inclusion and New York State Industries for the Disabled (NYSID). The report claims that "Providers have an economic impact…
In two earlier posts, I examined the proposed downtown Albany soccer stadium. In the first, I discussed its possible role in Albany's redevelopment and the likely difficulties it would face in generating operating profits. In the second, I briefly discussed the impact of the stadium's capital costs on profitability. In this post, I examine possible financing structures for the proposed stadium and…
In an earlier piece, The Proposed Downtown Albany Soccer Stadium: Potential Risks and Benefits, I considered the financial viability of the proposed facility. Although a hypothetical model showed a likely operational deficit, under more optimistic assumptions, the proposal might be viable. But the analysis did not account for the reality that the stadium s capital costs [ ]
Developers have proposed building a soccer stadium as part of a redevelopment of an underutilized section of Albany's downtown, Liberty Park, near the MVP arena, often called "the parking lot district." The proposal would include a 7,500-seat stadium, along with commercial development and up to 1,000 new housing units. Although details of the project proposal have not been made available to the…
The poor academic performance of students in city schools has been a long-standing concern. When students struggle to acquire essential skills, it can significantly hinder their ability to compete successfully in the job market as adults. Large city schools tend to have high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students. In fact, over three-quarters of students in [ ]
The Heritage Foundation s recent analysis, Hydraulic Fracturing and Economic Outcomes: A Study of Marcellus Shale Counties in Pennsylvania and New York , claims that: The basis of Heritage s claims is a correct finding economic output (gross domestic product) per capita in Pennsylvania counties where fracking is permitted has outstripped that in Southern Tier New York [ ]
In this post, I examine the change in manufacturing employment in New York State and the Rust Belt since 2010,
The academic performance of disadvantaged students has long been of concern. In district-operated schools outside New York City, only 31% of disadvantaged students passed the state s grades 3-8 student evaluations in mathematics and English language arts in 2022-2023. Sixty-one percent of students who were not disadvantaged passed. In schools with high percentages of disadvantaged students, [ ]