Saturday, July 17, 2004
Virtually every state government shifts work offshore through state contractors. A new report provides a national analysis of offshore outsourcing of state government work. The analysis focuses on information technology and food-stamp call centers.
It's easy to reach the wrong policy conclusions from this report. We can move toward increasing regulation and restrictions (as this report suggests) -- a move that will ultimately fail. Or, we can take the insights of this report to underscore the real challenge: investing in brainpower.
While state legislators will spend hours trying to restrict outsourcing, they ignore a far more disturbing trend, the persistent decline of state investments in higher education. State and local tax fund appropriations for higher education (measured as a ratio of state personal income) has been declining steadily since the mid-1970's.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
State governments shift work offshore
