There are always a few items we’ve read during the week that deserve more attention but don’t make it into our regular posts. So we bundle them for the Friday roundup.
Here’s this week’s bundle:
Site Selection: Could Inclusion be the New Yardstick?
Is it possible that disadvantaged long-term economic development strategies could have their chances improved by improving the long-term chances of the disadvantaged themselves?
Amy Liu, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institution, which she co-founded with Bruce Katz in 1996, directs the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of Brookings and JPMorgan Chase that aims to help US metro leaders reorient their economies toward greater engagement in world markets. But it’s greater engagement with the people in our own backyards that she’s after today, she explained at the TrustBelt conference in Chicago last summer.
“There is pressure to grow an economy that works for more people,” she said, and make regions as inclusive as they are competitive.
Associated Press: Trade chief: protectionism is not the answer to job losses
The hostility toward trade agreements witnessed in the United States and other countries is misplaced and protectionist measures can hurt the poorest most, the head of the world’s leading trade body said Monday…
“Adopting protectionist measures would only decrease the possibilities for the poor people more than anybody else, and that’s just the wrong response to the situation today,” [World Trade Organization chief Roberto] Azevedo said.
National Conference of State Legislatures: Statewide Ballot Measures Had Drama of Their Own
While the drama of Election 2016 was clear in terms of actors—Republicans had a good day in most nooks and crannies—the plot thickened when it came to statewide ballot measures.
Marijuana was approved in seven out of the nine states where it was on the ballot…
Minimum wage increases were approved, too, in the four states that voted on the issue: Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Maine. Even South Dakota voters repealed last year’s newly enacted law that set a lower minimum wage for teens than for the rest of the population.
Huffington Post: Here’s What We Know About Why Polling Missed the Mark
The American Association for Public Opinion Research, in an emailed statement: “Election years present particularly high profile moments for public opinion and survey research. This is a time when polls dominate the media and the accuracy of polls can be confirmed or refuted by the actual poll vote outcome. The polls clearly got it wrong this time…”
Los Angeles Times: Prescription drug pricing measure Proposition 61 goes down to defeat
Proposition 61, the most expensive statewide initiative on the [California] ballot this November, has been defeated by a 54-46 margin.
The ballot measure sought to lower prescription drug prices by requiring that state agencies pay no more for medicines than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
Washington Research Council: How will I-1433 be implemented?
To be sure, as we noted in our special report on I-1433, counties in central Washington will be most affected because more of the jobs in these counties are paid less than $13.50. The Times has a county map of Washington showing where the minimum wage increase will have the most impact. For example, while 7.8 percent of full-time equivalent jobs in King County make less than $13.50, 30.5 percent of those in Yakima County do.
…although employers across the state are used to minimum wage law, paid sick leave is a whole new ballgame for many. Additionally, the significant technical differences between paid sick leave laws could prove tricky to sort out.
