To continue strength, leaders need to look toward private and non-profit sectors, not just government, says GMU economist.
If Northern Virginia wants to maintain its position as the economic powerhouse of the Washington metro region, local leaders and businesses need to look beyond the federal government and toward the nonprofit and private sectors, according to a recent report by economist Stephen Fuller. "For Northern Virginia to survive, the ratio of 35 percent of its Gross Regional Product depending on federal funds can't stay," said Fuller, who directs George Mason's Center for Regional Analysis. "Federal spending is shrinking. From 2002 to 2010, spending grew an average of 8 percent. Last year, it grew by 4 percent, and this year it has only grown by 2 percent. Other sectors need to find ways to catch up." Depending on how much funding is cut, there …
The Convict
5:44 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
The government shrinks and the government expands, which certainly impacts No Va. But the heart of this lunacy is to try to fill in the gaps left by a shrinking government sector with private sector investment. Okay, so let's assume the private sector absorbs the slack. We get new employers and everybody is happy. But wait a second, the government contracts and the government expands. When the … more ›