Here's a guest editorial, written by Philip Trostel, on investing in education to boost state vitality that was published in the Bangor Daily News...
Prosperity growth generally comes from one thing: sound investment. Although there are many types of wise investments, the single largest is human capital, and the largest type of investment in human capital is education. There is overwhelming evidence that greater educational attainment means a higher level of prosperity — in terms of income and in terms of better health, less crime, greater civic involvement, and so on.
Despite the abundant evidence, and despite having a relatively high level of investment in kindergarten through 12th grade education, we continue to underinvest in tertiary education in Maine. After taking per capita income and the potential number of college students into account, Maine ranked 44th in the nation in public investment in postsecondary education from 1980 through 2005. Consequently, despite having three prestigious private colleges here, we are a significant net exporter of college students. And, despite many economic advantages here in Maine, prosperity growth has lagged.
A crucial obstacle to greater investment in college education, and hence greater prosperity growth, is a widespread misunderstanding about labor markets. There is a common misconception that because there are not enough jobs for college graduates here, greater public investment in college education will only lead to more graduates leaving Maine for opportunities elsewhere.
This notion ignores two fundamental aspects of labor markets. First, jobs are created, and destroyed, all the time. The job market in a modern economy is constantly evolving. Second, job creation does not happen randomly. The jobs that are created in a particular place and time are generally those that best match the skills of the local work force. It is not a coincidence that high-tech clusters are located near important universities. Although those with more education tend to migrate toward higher-paying regions, it is also true that high-wage jobs migrate toward regions with higher-skilled workers.
In a nutshell, a highly educated work force to a large extent attracts and creates its own jobs. Thus, what matters for judging our interests in supporting college education is not emigration, but net emigration. It is not the number of leavers that matters for our economic development; it is the difference between the number of leavers and the number of newcomers.
Interstate migration occurs for many reasons, and to focus on the gross emigration of graduates mixes these reasons with the specific effect of new graduates on the labor market. Moreover, job matching is an important aspect of labor markets. Hence, the lowest rate of emigration of college-educated labor is not necessarily desirable. What is desirable is the thickening of the labor market for educated labor. A state with a thick supply of highly skilled workers has a significant competitive advantage in attracting and creating high-wage jobs.
I recently conducted a study quantifying the net impact of new college graduates on states’ job markets for graduates. Contrary to the widespread perception, the results clearly indicate that the effect of producing college graduates in a state on the state’s college attainment is close to proportionate. More specifically, the within-state effect of new college graduates on college attainment appears to be at least 90 percent, and most likely higher. For graduates from public colleges, the effect appears to be fully proportionate. On average, states graduating relatively high numbers of college students experience only a minimal net loss of graduates. Evidently, states graduating lots of college students also create lots of jobs for college graduates.
Thus, perhaps the most cost-effective way for Maine to ensure its future economic vitality is to substantially increase its investment in college students. In doing so, we will make a college education in Maine attractive to more of our young people, which in turn will halt the net exodus of our best and brightest.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
BDN Op-Ed on "Bottom-up Innovation"
Here's a guest editorial, written by Terry Porter, on bottom-up innovation that was published in the Bangor Daily News...
Maine businesses are facing challenges they never faced before. Even beyond the severe economic downturn that has affected many or most Maine companies, businesses must also cope with a marked underlying shift in business climates. We have all experienced how the pace and intensity of competition are accelerating worldwide due to the rise of information technology, globalization, speed of new product and market development, increased customer choice and knowledge, outsourcing, and many other factors. These changes have erased many traditional boundaries of business and they affect all of us.
Today’s business environment demands a different approach, a way to build in capacities for flexibility, innovation and change. To survive and grow, businesses need a steady stream of new initiatives that respond quickly to changes in the marketplace, address immediate threats from local or distant competitors, and may be implemented without major retooling of the company’s infrastructure. Fortunately, the needed resources are right at hand.
Quite often, it is the company’s own employees who sense changes and new opportunities early on, and come up with adaptive ideas and responses. Smart managers are recognizing the value of these efforts and are building bottom up innovation into company routines. For example, Westinghouse recently revised its innovation strategy by delegating some of their middle managers and their teams away from normal activities, to exclusively seek out new markets and technologies. By the same token, Best Buy has bet that local niche-market strategies can improve sales growth, and has revised its marketing strategy to reflect this belief: “the retailer believes that bottom up insights could have an outsize impact on sales growth.”
A wave of new research is helping to build our knowledge of how companies can successfully implement bottom up innovation, meaning ideas and initiatives that originate in local contexts and are championed to the attention of top managers. I have conducted research that surveyed hundreds of middle and line managers in three retail companies, to try to understand how bottom up innovation works and what can be done to enhance it. Each store in my study was an independent facility, under overall company jurisdiction of course, with a store manager and a number of department managers. By comparing store-to-store and company-to-company patterns in the responses, I arrived at some interesting findings.
First, I found that the quantity of new initiatives originating with middle and line managers varied significantly across the sample, but that there were traceable patterns within each company. Overall the level of initiatives was low, suggesting this approach is not widely being implemented yet, or that it was not an important aspect of these employees’ jobs. Most important, I found that greater levels of initiative development were associated with a combination of middle managers’ perception of company support for this activity, and their own attitudes towards the importance of bottom up innovation. It was the cumulative flow of initiatives that I was testing, not their quality or how many were eventually ratified at the top, since the best ideas can more readily be pruned from a steady stream rather than an intermittent one.
These results indicated that there is no “one best way” for a company that wishes to adopt a bottom up innovation strategy. Each localized site in which the company operates is likely to be unique, and local employees not only know the action in their own backyards best, but they also tend to respond to cues from their local manager. Companies themselves have a great influence on the realization of bottom up innovation, through their policies, certainly, but even more so through the culture they instill and encourage. It seemed to be the values and attitudes of middle managers that made the largest difference in new idea generation, over and above what managers said or wrote in their policy statements.
Some very practical suggestions emerge from this research for managing bottom up innovation in today’s volatile and fast-paced marketplaces. First, managers should be sure that everyone understands the importance and value of bottom up initiative development. They should also provide education and ‘incentivize’ local idea generation, but customize it to match the culture and channels that already exist in their company. Other ideas include providing time and resources for employee innovation, and encouraging communication with all stakeholder groups to obtain the best information possible about local changes.
Bottom up innovation is a powerful tool for ongoing competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced marketplaces. I believe that Maine businesses of any size and location should consider developing and utilizing this strategy. Many companies are already doing so, and it is hoped that these findings will help their efforts to be even more successful.
Maine businesses are facing challenges they never faced before. Even beyond the severe economic downturn that has affected many or most Maine companies, businesses must also cope with a marked underlying shift in business climates. We have all experienced how the pace and intensity of competition are accelerating worldwide due to the rise of information technology, globalization, speed of new product and market development, increased customer choice and knowledge, outsourcing, and many other factors. These changes have erased many traditional boundaries of business and they affect all of us.
Today’s business environment demands a different approach, a way to build in capacities for flexibility, innovation and change. To survive and grow, businesses need a steady stream of new initiatives that respond quickly to changes in the marketplace, address immediate threats from local or distant competitors, and may be implemented without major retooling of the company’s infrastructure. Fortunately, the needed resources are right at hand.
Quite often, it is the company’s own employees who sense changes and new opportunities early on, and come up with adaptive ideas and responses. Smart managers are recognizing the value of these efforts and are building bottom up innovation into company routines. For example, Westinghouse recently revised its innovation strategy by delegating some of their middle managers and their teams away from normal activities, to exclusively seek out new markets and technologies. By the same token, Best Buy has bet that local niche-market strategies can improve sales growth, and has revised its marketing strategy to reflect this belief: “the retailer believes that bottom up insights could have an outsize impact on sales growth.”
A wave of new research is helping to build our knowledge of how companies can successfully implement bottom up innovation, meaning ideas and initiatives that originate in local contexts and are championed to the attention of top managers. I have conducted research that surveyed hundreds of middle and line managers in three retail companies, to try to understand how bottom up innovation works and what can be done to enhance it. Each store in my study was an independent facility, under overall company jurisdiction of course, with a store manager and a number of department managers. By comparing store-to-store and company-to-company patterns in the responses, I arrived at some interesting findings.
First, I found that the quantity of new initiatives originating with middle and line managers varied significantly across the sample, but that there were traceable patterns within each company. Overall the level of initiatives was low, suggesting this approach is not widely being implemented yet, or that it was not an important aspect of these employees’ jobs. Most important, I found that greater levels of initiative development were associated with a combination of middle managers’ perception of company support for this activity, and their own attitudes towards the importance of bottom up innovation. It was the cumulative flow of initiatives that I was testing, not their quality or how many were eventually ratified at the top, since the best ideas can more readily be pruned from a steady stream rather than an intermittent one.
These results indicated that there is no “one best way” for a company that wishes to adopt a bottom up innovation strategy. Each localized site in which the company operates is likely to be unique, and local employees not only know the action in their own backyards best, but they also tend to respond to cues from their local manager. Companies themselves have a great influence on the realization of bottom up innovation, through their policies, certainly, but even more so through the culture they instill and encourage. It seemed to be the values and attitudes of middle managers that made the largest difference in new idea generation, over and above what managers said or wrote in their policy statements.
Some very practical suggestions emerge from this research for managing bottom up innovation in today’s volatile and fast-paced marketplaces. First, managers should be sure that everyone understands the importance and value of bottom up initiative development. They should also provide education and ‘incentivize’ local idea generation, but customize it to match the culture and channels that already exist in their company. Other ideas include providing time and resources for employee innovation, and encouraging communication with all stakeholder groups to obtain the best information possible about local changes.
Bottom up innovation is a powerful tool for ongoing competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced marketplaces. I believe that Maine businesses of any size and location should consider developing and utilizing this strategy. Many companies are already doing so, and it is hoped that these findings will help their efforts to be even more successful.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
BDN Op-Ed on "Maine's Brain Gain"
Here's a guest editorial, written by Gary Hunt, on Maine's brain gain that was published in the Bangor Daily News...
Maine loses younger college-educated workers to other states. Census data show that about 10,000 college-educated workers in their 20s who lived in Maine in 1995 had migrated to other states by the year 2000. This exceeds the approximately 5,000 college-educated workers in their 20s who lived elsewhere in the U.S. in 1995 and had migrated to Maine by the year 2000. This net loss of about 5,000 young college-educated workers constitutes a brain drain for Maine.
However, the same census data also show that Maine’s migration exchange with other states over the period 1995-2000 was on balance a positive one for older college-educated workers aged 30-65. About 18,000 college-educated workers aged 30-65 who lived elsewhere in the U.S. in 1995 resided in Maine in 2000. In contrast, only about 12,000 such workers who lived in Maine in 1995 were residing in other states in 2000. This net gain of about 6,000 older college-educated workers constitutes a brain gain for Maine.
Setting Maine’s brain gain of 6,000 older college-educated workers against its brain loss of 5,000 younger college-educated workers produces a net brain gain of 1,000 college-educated workers for Maine. So, migration exchanges between Maine and the rest of the U.S. between 1995 and 2000 produced a net brain gain for Maine. Earlier census data covering the period 1985-1990 also reveal a net brain gain for Maine through migration exchanges with other U.S. states. Specifically for this earlier period, the net loss of nearly 2,000 younger college-educated workers was more than offset by a net gain of over 9,000 older college-educated workers leading to a net brain gain of over 7,000. Moreover, the most recent migration data for 2000-2005 show a similar pattern of net brain gain. Offsetting a net loss of almost 8,000 younger college-educated workers is a net gain of nearly 10,000 older college-educated workers resulting in a net brain gain of about 2,000.
Concerns about the net loss of younger college-educated workers are in part mitigated by the more than offsetting net gains of older college-educated workers 30-65 years of age. Moreover older workers have on average more accumulated work experience than younger workers; and so the advantage is not only in numbers of workers but also in productivity. Finally the achievement of a college education by young adults substantially increases their economic opportunities and many will find that their best opportunities are in other states. People-oriented policies such as increasing the access to and quality of higher education advance the goal of expanding individual opportunities and lead to higher geographic mobility.
The ability of Maine to continue to more than offset the impact of this higher geographic mobility of educated young adults through relatively high net brain gains of older college-educated workers depends largely on economic opportunity and quality of life in Maine. Economic opportunity includes job growth and after-tax wages. Quality of life encompasses the richness of cultural goods such as performing, visual, and literary arts produced in local venues, museums and historical sites; and the existence of relatively safe, environmentally healthy, and uncongested living places and natural areas.
The fact that Maine has had net brain gains through its migration exchanges with other states strongly suggests that economic opportunity and quality of life in Maine have enhanced its competitiveness for college-educated workers more than its climate and geographical situation may have limited it. Continued implementation of thoughtful place-oriented policies can advance Maine’s economic opportunity and quality of life and keep it competitive in the interstate exchange of college-educated workers.
Maine loses younger college-educated workers to other states. Census data show that about 10,000 college-educated workers in their 20s who lived in Maine in 1995 had migrated to other states by the year 2000. This exceeds the approximately 5,000 college-educated workers in their 20s who lived elsewhere in the U.S. in 1995 and had migrated to Maine by the year 2000. This net loss of about 5,000 young college-educated workers constitutes a brain drain for Maine.
However, the same census data also show that Maine’s migration exchange with other states over the period 1995-2000 was on balance a positive one for older college-educated workers aged 30-65. About 18,000 college-educated workers aged 30-65 who lived elsewhere in the U.S. in 1995 resided in Maine in 2000. In contrast, only about 12,000 such workers who lived in Maine in 1995 were residing in other states in 2000. This net gain of about 6,000 older college-educated workers constitutes a brain gain for Maine.
Setting Maine’s brain gain of 6,000 older college-educated workers against its brain loss of 5,000 younger college-educated workers produces a net brain gain of 1,000 college-educated workers for Maine. So, migration exchanges between Maine and the rest of the U.S. between 1995 and 2000 produced a net brain gain for Maine. Earlier census data covering the period 1985-1990 also reveal a net brain gain for Maine through migration exchanges with other U.S. states. Specifically for this earlier period, the net loss of nearly 2,000 younger college-educated workers was more than offset by a net gain of over 9,000 older college-educated workers leading to a net brain gain of over 7,000. Moreover, the most recent migration data for 2000-2005 show a similar pattern of net brain gain. Offsetting a net loss of almost 8,000 younger college-educated workers is a net gain of nearly 10,000 older college-educated workers resulting in a net brain gain of about 2,000.
Concerns about the net loss of younger college-educated workers are in part mitigated by the more than offsetting net gains of older college-educated workers 30-65 years of age. Moreover older workers have on average more accumulated work experience than younger workers; and so the advantage is not only in numbers of workers but also in productivity. Finally the achievement of a college education by young adults substantially increases their economic opportunities and many will find that their best opportunities are in other states. People-oriented policies such as increasing the access to and quality of higher education advance the goal of expanding individual opportunities and lead to higher geographic mobility.
The ability of Maine to continue to more than offset the impact of this higher geographic mobility of educated young adults through relatively high net brain gains of older college-educated workers depends largely on economic opportunity and quality of life in Maine. Economic opportunity includes job growth and after-tax wages. Quality of life encompasses the richness of cultural goods such as performing, visual, and literary arts produced in local venues, museums and historical sites; and the existence of relatively safe, environmentally healthy, and uncongested living places and natural areas.
The fact that Maine has had net brain gains through its migration exchanges with other states strongly suggests that economic opportunity and quality of life in Maine have enhanced its competitiveness for college-educated workers more than its climate and geographical situation may have limited it. Continued implementation of thoughtful place-oriented policies can advance Maine’s economic opportunity and quality of life and keep it competitive in the interstate exchange of college-educated workers.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
What We're Hearing...
Here's an anonymous comment we received...
Hosting a web conference on Building a Vibrant Maine Economy is a great idea, and the first step in getting a variety of folks involved in a conversation that impacts us all. I work in the technology field, and one of the most difficult challenges we face is our inability to recruit qualified experienced professionals either from within the State or from “away”.
Technology, when used properly, is a tremendous business tool that enables a business to reach hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of potential new customers. Look at what LL Bean has done through technology reaching customers around the world. Hospitals have embraced technology, allowing medical professionals to exchange life saving information around the world in the blink of an eye. Maine should be embracing technology and building an infrastructure to meet current and future business demands. Look at the trouble Jackson Labs is having in obtaining the necessary bandwidth that would enable them to transmit large volumes of scientific data from Bar Harbor.
Building a vibrant Maine economy requires the State to define what we want for an economy. It is said that Maine is not business friendly. Why is that? Is it because of the tax structure? Is it because we lack the people with professional skills that new and existing businesses require? Is it our climate? Is it our geographical location? Or is it because Maine does not have a sustainable economic development plan? What are we doing at the State level to create a vibrant economy? Are we waiting for the businesses to come to Maine because we are Maine? Well, the ones that have come have been shown the door and said no thank-you and please do not come back (Casinos, LNG to name a few).
How do we move forward? I would suggest that the State of Maine recruit prospective businesses and offer them incentives to relocate here. For example would a business listen to a Maine delegation that said, if you relocate to our State we will waive all or a portion of the State tax burden, provided you hire X number of employees, pay them a minimum of Y dollars and also provide them with full family medical benefits? What does this do for the State? It will put people to work in good paying jobs (minimum $45K - $50K per year (taxable)), the business becomes a little more profitable, the State’s unemployment rate goes down, and the skilled positions being created will be enough to give our young college graduates a chance to consider staying in Maine.
Technology can open a lot of doors. When a business knocks on the door, what do we say and what is our plan?
Hosting a web conference on Building a Vibrant Maine Economy is a great idea, and the first step in getting a variety of folks involved in a conversation that impacts us all. I work in the technology field, and one of the most difficult challenges we face is our inability to recruit qualified experienced professionals either from within the State or from “away”.
Technology, when used properly, is a tremendous business tool that enables a business to reach hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of potential new customers. Look at what LL Bean has done through technology reaching customers around the world. Hospitals have embraced technology, allowing medical professionals to exchange life saving information around the world in the blink of an eye. Maine should be embracing technology and building an infrastructure to meet current and future business demands. Look at the trouble Jackson Labs is having in obtaining the necessary bandwidth that would enable them to transmit large volumes of scientific data from Bar Harbor.
Building a vibrant Maine economy requires the State to define what we want for an economy. It is said that Maine is not business friendly. Why is that? Is it because of the tax structure? Is it because we lack the people with professional skills that new and existing businesses require? Is it our climate? Is it our geographical location? Or is it because Maine does not have a sustainable economic development plan? What are we doing at the State level to create a vibrant economy? Are we waiting for the businesses to come to Maine because we are Maine? Well, the ones that have come have been shown the door and said no thank-you and please do not come back (Casinos, LNG to name a few).
How do we move forward? I would suggest that the State of Maine recruit prospective businesses and offer them incentives to relocate here. For example would a business listen to a Maine delegation that said, if you relocate to our State we will waive all or a portion of the State tax burden, provided you hire X number of employees, pay them a minimum of Y dollars and also provide them with full family medical benefits? What does this do for the State? It will put people to work in good paying jobs (minimum $45K - $50K per year (taxable)), the business becomes a little more profitable, the State’s unemployment rate goes down, and the skilled positions being created will be enough to give our young college graduates a chance to consider staying in Maine.
Technology can open a lot of doors. When a business knocks on the door, what do we say and what is our plan?
Monday, January 26, 2009
BDN Op-Ed on "Building a Better Creative Economy"
Here's a guest editorial, written by Todd Gabe, on the knowledge economy that was published in today's Bangor Daily News...
State and local policymakers in Maine are fascinated by the concept of using the “creative economy” as a means to promote economic development. Much of this interest stems from Richard Florida’s 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, which suggests that creativity is an important driver of regional prosperity. The creative economy, as defined in Florida’s book, is a collection of occupations including artists, computer programmers, educators, engineers, and scientists of all types.
Recognizing the keen interest in the creative economy among policymakers, I have been involved in several University of Maine studies on the effects of creative occupations on U.S. county-level earnings. Our intent was to isolate the exact jobs in the creative economy that are responsible for economic development. We found that many of the benefits attributed to the creative economy actually come from the presence of computer scientists and engineers in a region. So it appears that, as many people have believed for some time, enhancing knowledge about computers and technology is a good way to raise standards of living.
This got me thinking about other types of knowledge that provide economic development benefits, such as increasing the amount of money a person makes and lifting regional productivity. On these topics, I considered knowledge about a wide variety of subjects, ranging from psychology and medicine to sociology and philosophy. My research consistently shows that possessing knowledge related to information technology (e.g., computers and telecommunications) and the provision of business services (e.g., management, law and economics) are keys to a prosperous economy.
So what does this mean for Maine?
Unfortunately, Maine ranks below national averages in terms of knowledge, as utilized by the state’s workforce, about information technology and business services. This means that we need to work on beefing up our collective knowledge in these critically-important areas. We should emphasize these subjects in our schools, and provide a climate that is attractive to information technology and business service providers.
Or, better yet, business owners throughout the state can help out by enlisting the services of a computer programmer or other information technology specialist. I would be hard pressed to think of any type of business – even very small companies – that could not profit from greater use of technology.
I also believe that it is important for Maine workers, business owners and policymakers to emphasize “what people do” in their jobs, as much as we think about “what people make.” Regional economic policy initiatives often focus on a few targeted industries identified for development assistance by government officials. These efforts are geared at what people make, be it a particular type of service or manufactured good.
Shifting the emphasis from targeted industries to occupations allows us to consider more clearly what people do, whether it is using creativity on the job or drawing from a person’s knowledge about a particular subject. This type of approach will help position Maine for greater economic prosperity. No one knows what the “hot” industries will be in 50 years, just like no one knew 50 years ago what they would be today. But it is a safe bet that the regions that deliver products and services – whatever they are – with a highly creative and knowledgeable workforce will have the rosiest economic futures.
State and local policymakers in Maine are fascinated by the concept of using the “creative economy” as a means to promote economic development. Much of this interest stems from Richard Florida’s 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, which suggests that creativity is an important driver of regional prosperity. The creative economy, as defined in Florida’s book, is a collection of occupations including artists, computer programmers, educators, engineers, and scientists of all types.
Recognizing the keen interest in the creative economy among policymakers, I have been involved in several University of Maine studies on the effects of creative occupations on U.S. county-level earnings. Our intent was to isolate the exact jobs in the creative economy that are responsible for economic development. We found that many of the benefits attributed to the creative economy actually come from the presence of computer scientists and engineers in a region. So it appears that, as many people have believed for some time, enhancing knowledge about computers and technology is a good way to raise standards of living.
This got me thinking about other types of knowledge that provide economic development benefits, such as increasing the amount of money a person makes and lifting regional productivity. On these topics, I considered knowledge about a wide variety of subjects, ranging from psychology and medicine to sociology and philosophy. My research consistently shows that possessing knowledge related to information technology (e.g., computers and telecommunications) and the provision of business services (e.g., management, law and economics) are keys to a prosperous economy.
So what does this mean for Maine?
Unfortunately, Maine ranks below national averages in terms of knowledge, as utilized by the state’s workforce, about information technology and business services. This means that we need to work on beefing up our collective knowledge in these critically-important areas. We should emphasize these subjects in our schools, and provide a climate that is attractive to information technology and business service providers.
Or, better yet, business owners throughout the state can help out by enlisting the services of a computer programmer or other information technology specialist. I would be hard pressed to think of any type of business – even very small companies – that could not profit from greater use of technology.
I also believe that it is important for Maine workers, business owners and policymakers to emphasize “what people do” in their jobs, as much as we think about “what people make.” Regional economic policy initiatives often focus on a few targeted industries identified for development assistance by government officials. These efforts are geared at what people make, be it a particular type of service or manufactured good.
Shifting the emphasis from targeted industries to occupations allows us to consider more clearly what people do, whether it is using creativity on the job or drawing from a person’s knowledge about a particular subject. This type of approach will help position Maine for greater economic prosperity. No one knows what the “hot” industries will be in 50 years, just like no one knew 50 years ago what they would be today. But it is a safe bet that the regions that deliver products and services – whatever they are – with a highly creative and knowledgeable workforce will have the rosiest economic futures.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Welcome to the "Building a Vibrant Maine Economy" blog!
Greetings and welcome,
The purpose of this blog is to exchange ideas related to building a vibrant Maine economy. This is your place to comment on the presentations available at www.umaine.edu/vme and for all of us to keep a dialogue going on this important topic.
Please feel free to comment on the presentations, post your own ideas, and comment on the ideas of others.
The purpose of this blog is to exchange ideas related to building a vibrant Maine economy. This is your place to comment on the presentations available at www.umaine.edu/vme and for all of us to keep a dialogue going on this important topic.
Please feel free to comment on the presentations, post your own ideas, and comment on the ideas of others.
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