A new report shows Massachusetts has remained at the top in economic competitiveness within the nation’s 50 states.
The state moved from second place to first in the latest edition of the Beacon Hill Institute’s Competitiveness Report. Connecticut was ranked 21, four places better than in 2007, according to the institute, an affiliate of Massachusetts’ Suffolk University.
Throughout the report’s eight-year existence, Massachusetts has never ranked lower than third and usually has been first or second.
The state improved its ranking in part through its strong showing in human resources, technology, business incubation and security. It also rose from ninth to first in a measurement of the number of residents with health insurance coverage.
Eight of the states that made the top 10 last year remained in that group this year. Oregon and Montana moved up, while South Dakota dropped out. The same was true of New Hampshire, which slipped from ninth to 17th because of falling scores for security, fiscal policy and business incubation. The state ranked third just two years ago.
The report is based on an index created through an amalgam of statistics, sometimes collected during different years and by widely differing sources such as the government or special interest groups.
A ranking for “government and fiscal policy,” for example, is based on six criterion, one for 2007 from TaxFoundation.org, one from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2006.
Suffolk University Economics Professor Jonathan Haughton, the report’s author, said the data is widely used, although the weight given to it can be subjective. (AP)
