Boston Route 128’s Past and Present (3)
Boston’s Route 128: Past and Present
Distinctive and Unconventional：A Singular Success
Economic miracles may suddenly become visible, but such miracles are almost always produced by solid fundamentals and these solid fundamentals always have a long history.
—— Lester C. Thurow
Paradoxically, regions offer an important source of competitive advantage even as production and markets become increasingly global.
—— Annalee Saxenian
On September 13, the Federal Reserve Bank finally launched its latest monetary policy, ending prolonged hesitation and observation. The new policy, “Quantitative Easing” or shortened as “QE3”, was designed to boost American economy and create job growth. Though much anticipated, the policy still managed to stir new waves in a turbulent world: the global capital market cheering for an upcoming carnival; the two parties drumming up support or suppression amidst their white-hot presidential campaign; scholars flooding the media with all kinds of analyses, comments and predictions…
Amidst all the uproars, my attention and thoughts were drawn to two discussions that happened earlier in the Boston area. One took place over a month ago and the other was on the eve of the “QE3” policy announcement.
On the evening of September 12, a brightly lit and crowded open classroom in Northeastern University welcomed two titans in the field of economics: Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard University president, Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton (1999 to 2001) and top economic adviser to Obama until 2010; N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during George W. Bush’s presidency, currently counseling the Republican presidential candidate Romney. Though both being Harvard professors in economics, they share little in common with respect to experience and position. Summers opened the discussion by stressing the active role government should continue to play to get economy back on its feet. He argued for more stimulus measures to repair schools, hire teachers and renovate airports. Mankiw, on the contrary, elaborated on the significance of tax policies on a long-term economic recovery. To the surprise of many, neither of them addressed the central bank or its policies. Instead, they concentrated on means available to the White House and the Congress. Government spending, taxes and deficits were the focus of their arguments.
Mankiw and Summers were able to reach one consensus though: neither increase in investment nor tax deduction alone would prove a fundamental strategy, for they are too costly and unsustainable. Any measures to fix the rooted flaws of a national economy must be consisted of multi-dimensional policies. Since Mankiw recognized Summers as a mentor while he was a graduate student in MIT and Dukakis, who was moderating the discussion, jokingly attributed his failure in the 1988 presidential campaign to hiring Summers as his adviser, a fierce battle of words, concluded in a relaxed and humorous atmosphere, leaving the expectant audience doubly gratified.
Another contention commenced via the Boston Globe. On August 7th, in an article titled “Fed must do more, its Boston chief says”, Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, was reported to be making strong demands in an interview that Fed take immediate measures to fuel the stagnant economy despite the pressure of the election year. Since disagreements in the Fed are commonly resolved internally, media Interpreted Rosengren’s action to be “an unusual public plea”. As a “subordinate”, Rosengren would not normally express such a view to the public. A featured article “Economists: Fed action will have minor impact” soon followed the next day. Quoting views from Harvard professor in economics, Benjamin M. Friedman, the article states that monetary policies by themselves would hardly have any impacts and that the role Fed can play is fairly limited. “It is clear the US economy needs more stimulus,” but they should come from the Congress not from the Fed. Interestingly enough, the debate stopped abruptly in August and no follow-up report could be found. As some have speculated (in hindsight), Rosengren’s move was more a testing signal for Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, than an urgent appeal out of his discontent with the central bank. Anyways, the short-lived controversy became a skirmish prior to the Fed’s formal introduction of its new policy.
These two discussions, unlikely to capture much public attention, provoked my thoughts on the extended process of issuing policies and regulations in America. First of all, the general public has to be consulted in advance; such may take form of open discussions launched by relevant departments or scholarly articles on media to stimulate deliberation and conversation. Policies then must go through a mix of legal procedures including debates and hearings. Once implemented, they are subject to supervision from all sides, and their effectiveness is to be assessed through a complicated review and evaluation process. As much as the Fed emphasizes its “independency”, it has to resort to discussions in academia and on media to show the impartiality and transparency of its policies- be it careful conceiving or mere coincidence, given the sensitive timing for the present occasion. Scholars, therefore, by putting forward direct opinions or beating around the bush, play a much larger role than acting as a go-between or simply justifying the policy-making.
In order to trace the development of Boston’s Route 128 and the growth of Massachusetts’ innovation economy, I have collected and studied almost all the papers and books relevant to the subjects over the past two years. The most profound reflections on my part can be summarized as following: collective governance- by the government, business and academia- built upon self-governance and rule of law, promotes and sustains the prosperity and growth of a regional economy and society; different parties, communities and individuals with varied interests, styles and goals, through unremitting dispute, reconciliation and compromise, contribute to the advance of policies from being “democratic” to being “scientific” and “lawful”. Next, I shall introduce a number of scholars and their works to unfold the course of development of Boston’s Route 128 high-tech region.
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Vivid descriptions of “Massachusetts Miracle” and “Route 128” largely set in the late 1980s, a period when news coverage, featured articles and scholarly writings were entangled with the 1988 presidential election. For this very reason, each work must be carefully examined as to its objectivity and reference value. Here is a case in point: then governor Dukakis and his economic adviser, Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-authored Creating the Future: The Massachusetts Comback and its Promise for America, blending Massachusetts’ economic performance with case studies from HBS. This seemingly academic work has been dubbed “an awkward hybrid” to glorify Dukakis. In spite of Professor Kanter’s extraordinary academic attainments elsewhere, the book only received insipid responses after publication, and is not worth recommendation.
David Lampe’s painstaking efforts produced two book that deserve close reading. One is a collection of essays entitled The Massachusetts Miracle: High Technology and Economic Revitalization, edited by Lampe and published in 1988; the other is Route 128: Lessons from Boston’s High-Tech Community, co-authored by Lampe and Susan Rosegrant. While working on this book, Lampe was a columnist in Business Week and Rosegrant a free-lance writer. Both continued to work in media and at universities, yet neither became a big name. Nonetheless, the book’s professionalism and academic standing was in the least affected.
The Massachusetts Miracle: High Technology and Economic Revitalization is a specially complied book. It consists of a chronological series of twenty-one historical documents and essays, recording in details major events and dramatic changes in Massachusetts’ economy from 1971 to 1983. Quotations carefully drafted by the editor precede each piece of writing, introducing the author and the background of what follows. The book brings readers into close contact with a prolonged public policy debate on the economic issues of the state. Although it contains speeches and articles by Francis W. Sargent (the 64th governor of Massachusetts) and Dukakis, among other politicians, the book as a whole gives bigger role to entrepreneurs and academia. Since as many as nine reports and articles were authored by James M. Howell, chief economist at Bank of Boston and his staff, Bank of Boston once hoped to delay the publishing till after the 1988 election in fear of a possible negative influence on Dukakis’ presidential campaign, whose role in the state economy did not stand out in the book.
Filled with optimism about the economy of Boston area and that of Massachusetts, the book builds on reliable sources and come to fair conclusions. The advice it offers to countries and regions eager to learn from and copy the Route 128 model is, in particular, candid and valuable. In a word, government, especially the state government, had minimal impact on the revival of Route 128; 128 phenomenon is easy to describe, difficult to explain and yet almost impossible to transplant or duplicate.
Allegedly, Lampe and Rosegrant had started the book Route 128: Lessons from Boston’s High-tech Community since 1985, when Massachusetts’ economy reached its peak. When it was published in 1992, however, the “Massachusetts Miracle” labeled by Dukakis, had collapsed, and both authors were confronted with numerous cases of society fighting with perseverance against the economic downturn. Previous editing experience and present sense of harsh reality enabled Lampe and Rosegrant to produce a book with historical perspective and uncommon wisdom. Through probing the roots of a cooperative relationship among the academia, industry and government in American history, they analyze the real driving force behind economic transition and development. In their eyes, a “miracle” represented by the single explosive growth of industry computers never existed; the true miracle lies in the area’s time-honored capacity for technological innovation. In order to reveal America’s competitive advantage, the book compares the academia, government and business, respectively, as the “mind, means and muscle ” of innovation, and further points out that the three players collaborate, conflict and compromise out of their interests, thereby advancing innovation in a highly productive manner.
From the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act, which redefined and expanded the role of university, to Lowell becoming the cradle of American industrial revolution, to the immense R&D funding from the federal government in the latter part of World War II and throughout the Cold War, resulting in the emergence of the electronics industry, and the huge contributions made by a number of universities and research institutes led by MIT all the way along, the story of Route 128’s high-tech community is one “of idealism and entrepreneurship, of ivory tower intellectualism and practical Yankee ingenuity, and of individual dreams and cooperative efforts.”
Route 128: Lessons from Boston’s High-tech Community explains the partnership between the academia, industry and government, and examines the origin and essence of American innovation. The authors insist that nobody, be it government, organizations or individuals, should claim credit for the success of Route 128, nor should we regard its temporary crisis and stagnation as decline or irreversible downfall. A firm belief in “innovation” leads them to trust a real “American miracle” would soon befall Route 128 and the Bay state. In this very sense, the monograph has immense appeal for professionals and laymen alike, as much then as it does now.
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Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 is by far the most widely circulated and the most influential scholarly writing on the 128 phenomenon (and, for that matter, on Silicon Valley as well). Harvard University Press published the hardcover and paperback editions of the book in 1994 and 1996, respectively. It was an immediate success, met with enormous responses and winning “Honorable Mention, 1994 Professional /Scholarly Publishing Award of the Association of American Publishers, Business and Management Category”. In 1999, the writer authorized Commonwealth Publishing Co., Ltd to publish its Chinese version in Taiwan. In 2000, Shanghai Far East Publishers put the book’s simplified Chinese version into print. This book has thenceforth arguably formed Chinese-speaking people’s opinions (and bias), about Silicon Valley and Route 128.
Annalee Saxenian, author of this book, was born and raised in the Boston area, went on to obtain her master’s degree from University of California Berkley on the west coast and then her doctoral degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the east coast. Although both her master’s and doctoral dissertations dealt with issues in Silicon Valley, Saxenian had begun to explore the differences between Silicon Valley and Route 128 during her years in MIT. Later she returned to MIT in 1990 and devoted one year to researching Route 128.
The thesis and selling point is clearly and conveniently summarized on the back cover (potentially an advertisement): “Why is it that business in Silicon Valley is again flourishing while within Route 128 clearly and in a straightforward way in Massachusetts it continues to decline?” The answer, as found by Saxenian was such: “Despite similar histories and technologies, Silicon Valley developed a decentralized but cooperative industrial system while Route 128 came to be dominated by independent, self-sufficient corporations.” Through comparative study and extensive analysis of local data, Saxenian discovered through over 100 interviews that the Silicon Valley and Route 128 demonstrate very differently in the following ways. Silicon Valley encourages openness and decentralization; communication and exchanges among highly specialized firms are common; the culture on the west coast tolerates failure, and supports experimentation and risk-taking. Companies in Route 128 are vertically integrated, valuing loyalty and hierarchy; they are independent and self-contained; with a strong sense of intellectual property rights, risk-averse firms discourage inter-firm contacts and cooperation; they are much more conservative and less flexible in management style. Therefore, companies in Silicon Valley are positioned to find professional talent, technical services and venture capital from an unmatched regional base of vendors. Start-ups are burgeoning one after another and time-to-market for new products are considerably shorter. In contrast, large firms in Route 128 refuse to open up to the region and are declined to assist spin-offs. With stringent restrictions on talent flow and traditional sources of financing, starting up a new company is hard and innovation eventually slows down. In short, the different organizational structure and cultural characteristics of Silicon Valley and Route 128 determine the unequal learning ability and ultimately the fate of the two regions. Saxenian illustrated the above distinctions and struck home her point, using Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley and Digital Equipment Corporation in Route 128 as case studies. The fates of HP and DEC appeared to have verified her statement: in 1998 DEC was acquired by Compaq, and in 2002, Compaq was merged into HP.
Praise and criticism of the book never subside, largely due to the dramatic situation in Boston area around its conception and publication: When Saxenian began to research and write the book, Route 128 was amid its worst moments: the “Massachusetts Miracle” was disillusioned, economy was hitting the bottom and pessimism and depression was shrouding the Greater Boston area. Shortly after the book was published, however, the state economy was seen to be reviving and a new round of growth had commenced, causing no small embarrassment for Saxenian. The book’s examination of Silicon Valley and Route 128 is, in general, profound and correct. One could hardly find fault with its prediction and promotion of Silicon Valley. Yet to conclude that Route 128 needs a complete rebirth from the fact that Silicon Valley succeeded and did so on a totally different model, was indeed a bit too hasty. Regional development takes root in the culture and tradition of the region, and the birth and growth of innovation is a long and meandering road, paved with trials and tribulations, for which patience and foresight are required. If we fail to explain the resurgence of Route 128 in mid 1990s, how could we possibly resolve the myth of its decline in 1980s? A Boston native, as she calls herself, Saxenian seems to lack an in-depth understanding of its culture and history. The task was to befall Michael Best!
Two issues are worth reflection with regard to the research methodology employed by Saxenian. Firstly, it is inappropriate to rush into judgment that organizational structure and local culture are to blame for the poor economic performance of a certain region; secondly, it is unreasonable to use the organizational structure and culture characteristics of a region with strong economic performance as a benchmark to negate or disparage styles and features different from it. A more just conclusion should acknowledge the relative advantages of each model, allowing each to maintain its distinction while encouraging both to learn from each other. In August 1995, Saxenian wrote a preface to the paperback edition that was to be published by Harvard University Press. It could have been a perfect opportunity to modify some of her views in the book, yet she stubbornly insisted that horizontal collaboration between highly specialized firms trumps vertical integration within large enterprises, and therefore, “it (Boston’ Route 128) is likely to take decades to overcome the management practices, culture and institutions that have hindered the region in the past.” A worldly renowned scholar, expert on regional economic development, Saxenian is now Dean of the School of Information in University of California, Berkley. She also chose to reside in northern California and focus on studying Silicon Valley. But criticism from her hometown continues to follow her, likely to become a lingering regret of her lifetime.
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Michael Best, Professor Emeritus and External Director of Center for Industrial Competitiveness at University of Massachusetts, Lowell, is a low-key scholar with rigorous style. His thirty years of academic life, from 1982 on, produced three monographs and nearly twenty papers on economics. He is also a Fellow of the Judge Business School of Cambridge University, and serves about ten different positions in a range of political, business and academic organizations in both Europe and the States. His research focus includes industrial development strategies, business organization, technological change, cluster evolution, and regional innovation systems. Though not a prolific author, he has exerted profound influence in the field with each of his pulbications. Despite being frequently consulted by the national and local governments of many countries, Best seldom accepts media interviews. It was really not easy to find a picture of his on the Internet. Therefore, the only way to know Best is through his works. My regret soon turns to respect: perhaps such is what makes a true scholar!
Best’s academic efforts are manifested three-fold. Firstly, he plans to carefully sort out the main views of the key economics schools, laying theoretical cornerstone and right direction for his own research. He draws upon a long heritage in economic thoughts beginning with Adam Smith, and claims to have inherited the new growth theory (from Robert Solow to Paul Romer) that acknowledges science and technology as critical to economic development. He also sides himself with Schumpeter and Porter. The “productivity triad” he created is employed as an analysis framework to x-ray the economy and is said to be an amendment to Porter’s “diamond model”. The three domains that make up Best’s “productivity triad” are skill formation, business model and production system. Besides, Best strives to conduct research based on extensive and accurate data. On his initiative and in his charge, THREAD (short for “Techno-Historical Regional Economic Analysis Database”) was set up in the Center for Industrial Competitiveness. Many of Best’s papers and reports on the development of technology industry in Massachusetts utilized this database, for which reason the credibility of his findings was greatly enhanced. Thirdly, Best aims at nurturing an international comparative perspective for his research. He has travelled all over the world. His participation in industrial reconstruction and economic policy making brought him into close contact with the economies of many countries and regions, including Massachusetts, US, Northern Ireland, London, Malaysia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Jamaica, Honduras and Moldova. Extensive traveling and scientific research have bestowed his works with a genuine international perspective and global vision.
All those in pursuit of knowledge and truth hope their work to be recognized as objective, authentic and reliable. Best Is no exception, and he achieves so by respecting history with a critical eye, by collecting and screening regional economic data and by celebrating differences while seeking common grounds. Painstaking efforts finally paid off with inner satisfaction and general praise. His 1990 book The New Competition: Institutions of Industrial Restructuring was highly recommended by book reviewers. Charles Perrow, among others, thinks highly of this book for four reasons: historical scope, comparative methodology, rigorous approach to theories as well as clear explanation of complex economic issues with simple language and models. A phenomenal sale of tens of thousand copies is a deserving reward for Best’s steadfast pursuit over the years.
Best’s examination of Massachusetts’ economy can mostly be found in a series of papers he wrote and his 2001 book The New Competitive Advantage: the Renewal of American Industry, published by Oxford University Press. From a “capability and innovation perspective,” Best addresses the resurgence of American economy, and that of industry in particular. The fifth chapter of the book entitled “The Resurgence of Route 128: the Triumph of Open Systems,” is a classical piece that explains the 128 phenomenon- its decline and rebirth- in a convincing manner.
—— A capacity to maintain the continuity of science and technology while actively adapting to the changing environment is the most prominent regional advantage of Massachusetts and the New England region as a whole. The New England area has traditional technology advantage, especially a leadership in precision machining and complex product systems worldwide. It was the first to convert from traditional industries such as garment, textile and leather to modern information industry and to contemporary plural industries in biomedicine, clean energy and so on. Adaptability and innovation have become the momentum for regional economic and societal development.
—— A new business model- systems integration-with its characteristic openness and flexibility played a decisive role in the resurgence of Route 128. Best inclines to interpret the years of economic downturn between 1985 and 1992 as a time of “creative destruction”, for following that period Massachusetts began to widely apply the principles of systems integration to business organization. A model as such that had proven powerful in Silicon Valley advanced new product development and spawned a large number of “disruptive” innovations. Route 128 started to exhibit equally durable vigor and vitality as Silicon Valley, if not more.
—— The 128 region gains a new competitive advantage through industry diversification and small-scale production. Massachusetts’ high-tech industry has evolved from a single computer industry to plural industries including biomedicine, precision machining, robotics and new energy. The region has never had a competitive advantage in mass production, and so automobiles and consumer electronics never took root here. The area favors high-end and exquisite personalized products targeted at a relatively small market. Presently, such products are labeled as “high-tech.” In Best’s opinion, this is exactly a new competitive advantage demonstrating “capability and innovation.”
Silicon Valley and Route 128 were used by Best as case studies to elaborate on “capability and innovation perspective”. It was his long-time efforts in creating new theories that rendered his interpretation of the 128 phenomenon convincing and impeccable. Only one point may be added here: In terms of America’s overall industrial development, Silicon Valley, Route 128, North Carolina Triangle Park or other distinctive industry clusters are all indispensable. Gentility on the east coast and cowboy culture on the west are no more than a regional division of labor with respect to basic research, product development and production scale. It is exactly thanks to such a variety of industries and qualities in different regions that American can still impress the world as a leading innovative nation and innovation economy.
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Today, Route 128 remains the focus of attention for numerous researchers and policy-makers. Outside the United States, Asians, in particular, have expressed a keen interest in the region. For instance, Professor Man-Hyung Lee from Chungbuk National University in South Korea and Professor Eungyoon Lee from the University of Hong Kong co-authored the paper “Legacy and Reconstruction of Route 128 Governance.” “Boston Route 128 Revisited” by Jarunee Wonglimpiyarat, researcher from Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology, titled has considerable influence among the English readership. Articles and reports published in other local languages are simply voluminous. Trying “America 128” in Chinese on google, you will find the search engine generates 800,000 results.
We follow 128 and study it for good reasons. It is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the development of regional economy and innovation economy. My close reading of the works in this areas yields five points which may be shared with the readers:
—— The clustering of regional high-tech industries and their success do not result from any active planning or interference on the government’s part. Such holds true for Boston’s Route 128, Silicon Valley and North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, to name a few. However, this does not mean that governments can be nothing but a passive onlooker. Instead, governments of various levels should refrain from any participation. They need to deliver sufficient infrastructure and convenient public services, and work closely with different sectors of society to provide incentives and environment for business development.
—— Underlying the success of regional economy have been the combined arduous efforts from all sides, especially the business community, over an extended period of time. Brilliant economic performance, oftentimes attributed to the present administration’s effective governance, is in fact a much more complex matter. First of all, businesses, especially those created and managed by entrepreneurial minds, are pivotal for the development of regional economy; the integration of entrepreneurship and advanced technologies is the soul for regional innovation economy. Secondly, for any industry to breed and break though, and for a certain region to form a virtuous and functional system, it takes decades or even centuries of hard work and persistence. “One generation sows and another reaps” is the governing law for the growth of a regional innovation economy.
—— The nurture and evolution of organizational system and cultural characteristics make up the power source for regional competitiveness and sustainable development. Knowledge economy and innovation economy are built upon information, technology and culture, as in marked contrast to the traditional economy, which relies heavily on land, capital and labor. On one hand, regional culture and tradition, together with the social and organizational system from which they derive, can positively foster economic development; on the other, high-tech, represented by information technologies, exert influences on regional culture and organizational system, leading to innovation and transformation. Yet, no changes in organizational structure or culture happen overnight. “What is essential is invisible to the eye,” and the ultimate secret is no secret- there is no shortcut to success.
—— For a country, pluralism and heterogeneity are the right directions for a knowledge-based economy. Comparing the histories of Boston’s Route 128 and Silicon Valley, I find it difficult to claim which is better, in terms of both experiences and lessons. Each possesses unique strengths and advantages that need to be maintained and developed, yet each exhibits certain desirable features, worthy of being acquired by the other. In view of the historical and present performances of both, I am inclined to view the two regions as a geographical division of labor within a holistic innovation economy. Route 128 region places more emphasis on basic research and industrial R&D, and thereby is the cradle of new industries, businesses and products. Silicon Valley, however, leans more toward innovation in the design and production process, and thus is the mecca of mass production and massive sales. As is shown clearly on the economic maps of such large nations as America and China, domestic division of labor and industry is realized through various industrial “districts,” “belts” and “corridors.” A “big” country makes “many” industries possible. No matter in the fields of economy, politics or culture, it is the breaking away with convention and tradition, or “maverick”, that enables multiple successes, all with strong capacity to resist risks.
—— Greater importance should be attached to researches on the cycle of innovation economy. Despite our genuine wish for perpetual growth and prosperity, the economy has a cyclical development of growth, stagnation, recession and recovery, which is beyond our will. Is there a special cycle for innovation economy? What are the implications of Route 128, with its course of sudden prosperity, rapid decline, recent resurgence and steady development? Can we find any correlation between the present global crisis and the high-tech led innovation economy? Several useful lessons could be drawn from the story of Route 128: there is no need to panic when the economic growth slows down or stalls, nor should any irrational actions be taken. Intervention may produce immediate effects, but the short-sighted measures may deal a lethal blow to the economy in the long run. Scholars on Route 128 are solidly united on one point: the 128 high-tech region is neither a product from governmental planning nor a result of administrative intervention.
Route 128 and Massachusetts at large have won plenty of applauses and cheers for their leadership in innovation economy. Such is not saying that the state boasts a perfectly healthy economic sector. In fact, it has long been besieged with worries, doubts and criticism, which include the following: firstly, Massachusetts, unlike California and other technology-leading states, is home to only a handful of big companies (among a total of 132 US companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, only 11 are headquartered in Massachusetts); secondly, Massachusetts fails to offer the best business climate, due to the high living costs driven up by expensive housing and commodity prices, not to mention its high taxes (it was once dubbed “Taxachusetts”); thirdly, the state has a long way to go to keep its locally educated talents from migrating elsewhere; fourthly, Massachusetts is not the “apple of the eye” for venture capitalists, and it is believed that such pillar enterprises as Raytheon could fall easy prey to the cut in defense R&D funding from the federal government; fifthly, vulnerability caused by sole dependence on the European and domestic markets demands expansion to the global market; and etc. A few of these problems have in part been addressed in scholarly works (e.g. the relatively small amount of big pillar companies), while many more have been placed on the agenda of collective governance. Recent prediction of a dozen local economics that the state’s economy had slipped into a “slow gear” did not arouse any panic or recrimination. People have chosen to take the fact with calmness and peace. Perhaps more stimulus measures are coming up or the market shall be let alone to recover. In any event, the innovation economy in Boston’s Route 128 area is growing with its characteristic perseverance, adding some bright hue onto the otherwise dim picture of America’s economic recovery.
On September 20, Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, was invited to give a talk to an audience from South Shore Chamber of Commerce. With a deck of slides full of charts and graphs, and against the backdrop of America’s current economic situation, Rosengren intended to provide sufficient justification for the latest policy announced by the Fed. He also firmly dismissed the alleged conspiracy between Bernanke and him one month ago. All major news, Fox News included, reported his talk and the ensuing arguments. The local Boston Globe regarded the open discussion- stirred up by the senior officials of the Fed both prior to and after the announcement- as rare. Yet, given all the legends surrounding the meandering Route 128, what on earth is not possible for the dash and daring Boston?
References
Best, Michael H. The New Competition: Institutions of Industrial Restructuring. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1993. Print.
Best, Michael H. The New Competitive Advantage: The Renewal of American Industry. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.
Dukakis, Michael S., and Rosabeth Moss. Kanter. Creating the Future: The Massachusetts Comeback and Its Promise for America. New York: Summit, 1988. Print.
Earls, Alan R. Route 128 and the Birth of the Age of High Tech. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2002. Print.
Euchner, Charles C., ed. Governing Greater Boston: The Politics and Policy of Place. 2003 ed. Cambridge, MA: Press at the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, 2003. Print.
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Lampe, David, ed. The Massachusetts Miracle: High Technology and Economic Revitalization. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1988. Print.
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Woolhouse, Megan. “Obama and Romney Economic Advisers Spar on Taxes, US Aid Harvard Economists Offer Rival Visions.” The Boston Globe. N.p., 14 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/13/harvard-summers-and-mankiw-advisers-obama-and-romney-air-differences-economy/Qxu4IaNJeLqNuSSeYv9DdK/story.html>.
A Chinese version of the article can be found at Sina Financial and Economics Blog.
