,..", Jury 18, 1es7 Neededr A policy research nfraslructure http://www.businesstoday.com/edi1ors/'edilors.

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Contributing Editors
Needed: A policy research infrastructure
l Today'sTop Slorlaa Friday, July 18, 1997
) Tndatr's Gslumn By John O. Harnel

*, f,rntrlhstfnl Edlls]s With its launch of the Massachusetts Benchmarks Initiative, the Universiry of Massachusetts
offers a reminder that the intellect residing on New England college and universiry campuses
L Pcsple can--and should--be tapped to reinvigorate state polic)'makin-e in an era of devolving
sovernment responsibi I ities.
) [aliBdtr
> trsrlel Talk The new initiative, headed by tlMass-Amherst professor of finance and operations management
Craig L. Moore. aims to provide policymakers with high-quality research and analysis on the
) BT Forums Bay State economy,

) Tesh URdalt
Notably. Moore will team up with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the John W.
} Gs*slbook McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at UMass-Boston. promising a modest bit of
collaboration that is all too rare among the region's policy research endeavors.
) strll
l Dogfrl*ht Indeed, as many as 200 campus-based policy research centers and institutes are at work in New
England, churnin_u out findings and recommendations on issues such as education, health care.
weifare, environmental protection. intemational trade and workforce development--and doing
so largely in isoiation from one another.
F;ffrf,

Less beholden to paying clients than consulting firms and less self-serving than advocacy
F'inElind.corn groups, the purest of these policy think tanks" operate on the principle that good policy
requires good information. Their mrx of political pragmatism and scholarly detachment will be
). [P Bmahing Haurc at a premium, as the devolution juggernaut shifts more and more government responsibilities
from Washington D.C., to state capitals.
F *loorers

D Businas*Wlrs Observes McCormack Institute Director Robert L. Woodbury: "New England states and
municipalities, on the whole, have neither the policy framework and research capacity, nor the
} $lost 0uotss staff or budgetary support to deal with the vastly expanded responsibilities in health care,
welfare or job training that devolution will bring."

Individually, the think tanks don't have that capaciry either, but collectively, they might.

The problem is that while pressing policy questions transcend political boundaries, no
nonpartisan, regional forum exists to coordinate the efforts of the policy research centers and
institutes. So, the think tanks plug away independently, resulting in duplication of effort and
squandered opportunities.

Now, some help is on the way. The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) has
begun developing a "New England Public Policy Collaborative" to provide a framework for
sharing information and building upon the region's policy research capacity.

By bnnging policy experts together on-1ine and in the flesh, the NEBHE initiative strives to
create a regional intellectual foundation for addressing pnority policy matters. while enhancrng
public access to timely policy research.

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 http://www.businessloday com/edilors/edilors'htm
Needed: A policy research inlrastructure
Friday, July 18, 1997

to the think tanks' themselves' as well as to

Ultimately, such a cooperative approach is crucial
the consuhers of their research'

institutes run the risk of reinforcing their

Workins in isolation, the campus policy experts and
ivory toier image and losing relevance'

Workrngtogether--alongwithorganizationsliketheFederalReserveBankand
and the Pioneer Institute--they can help the
non-campus-based thrnli ,untt i-.i.n as MassINC
i.d*-Engiuna states truly serve as laboratones of democracy
Ha,re:
lohn o,
Higher Education and
joLtrnal oi the Nev' England Board of
Ecortomic Development. Coir-r-rltion is the qularterll
Higher Edttcation

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