Racial Disparity Costs the U.S. $2.6 Trillion in 2019-Opportunities for Michigan?

There is a moral and a financial side of discrimination that trickles throughout our socio-economic lives. The study conducted President and Chief Executive Officer Mary C. Daly  (and others contributors) at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco highlights a big problem in our country and an opportunity for Michigan to realize new value. The study indicates that  in $2.6 trillion was lost out of the total $21.4 million U.S. GDP. realized in 2019 (Mathews & Saraiva, Feb. 2nd, 2021).  

While this doesn't seem like much a 10% GDP boost coming from solving our internal problems would make the difference in the next generations ability to stay on top of the global economic supply chain (that figure likely doesn't include other forms of discrimination like religious discrimination😧😱).

I wasn't able to find the study but I looked around a little on the Net. However, I suspect that this 10% isn't the total number. If we look at race alone, and what can be measured, we are going not going to capture other forms of bigotry and discrimination. The study helps highlight a problem but there may be another 10% thrown out the window somewhere (one would have to study the other forms of bigotry).

If we squint our eyes a little and imagine a slight different future outcome of strong legislation. If Michigan has a diverse population (World Population Stats) and we know 10% of our GDP going out of the window (and likely another 10%) then we have opportunities to really boost our GDP to find a competitive position in the market. While improving access to human capital isn't the only solution it has a net positive result for the state which improves our fundamentals (and many industries).

I have learned from experience the power of bigotry and hate and how deeply it can be rooted into our societies. No one really tracks the cost of discriminatory behavior (i.e. lost human capital, embezzlement, intimidation, aggressive policing, etc...) and its total damage to our society. While such behavior may seem appropriate to those who hold discriminatory views it ended in real loss to the next generation (Who cares...they are minorities right?😣).

We have opportunities to ensure that hate based behavior is tracked, have opportunities for intervention, and have opportunities to raise the human capital of the state. Current hate laws (I'm not an attorney or lawmaker) appear to be focused on very high crimes (i.e. felonies) but doesn't focus on opportunities to track the behavior and offer intervention where necessary. This is why misdemeanor and mental health services should additional flexible options in the law to provide flexibility and code incidents properly for analysis. 

Hate is a mental disease and once it spreads it can turn into extremism (i.e. what we have seen at our capitals) that lead to group aggression. Many of these people could have been steered in the right direction way before social justification for internal distortion has been realized. At present, the laws seem misaligned to modern scientific discoveries, economic development, our historical purpose, and spirit of justice. 

Human capital is based in expectation and belief. While we may be able to track some numbers much of the messages are implicit and part of the way in which people interact and find their social positions. Without proper tools, we as a state will continue to undervalue our human capital that comes from the power of diversity. Diversity (especially global diversity) can lead not only to GDP boosts but also future innovative capacity.

 

I'm studying economic cluster development and human rights protections are a necessary component to raising human capital and creating environments where innovation and trust in basic concepts of justice creates pro-growth economic environments. You can read about clustering, human rights, and individuals freedoms and how they improve economic output in the article Individual Rights and Government Influence Help to Start Economic Clusters 

Protecting diversity and fighting against hate not only makes "Common Sense" but also "Common Cents"! (I thought I did well coming up with that say.  😲😶🙊)

Mathews, S. & Catarina, S. (February 2, 2021). Fed Finds Race, Gender Disparities Cut U.S. GDP by $2.6 Trillion. Bloomberg. https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/fed-finds-race-gender-disparities-cut-u-s-gdp-by-2-6-trillion

Governor Whitmer Announces Bi-Partisan Michigan Tuition Free Reconnect Education Opportunities

Governor Whitmer announces the Bi-Partisan Michigan Re-Connect program that offers free tuition to complete an associate degree or a skilled certificate program to help fill the 545K jobs opening in the high technology and skilled trades by 2026. The program is an effort to shore up the availability of labor and human capital to enhance the competitiveness of Michigan industries. 

Those struggling due to lack of open positions in their current occupation, may want to consider taking advantage of an opportunity to find a new field (COVID has left some people out of work.) Those who want to jump into modern employment positions have an opportunity to attend their in-district community college for free under the following criteria.... 

- Be at least 25 years old when you apply

- Have lived in Michigan for a year or more

- Have a high school diploma or equivalent

- Have not yet completed a college degree (associate or bachelor’s)

Leaders in business, education, labor and professional development collaborated with legislature/Governor to help train new workers for growing industries. $30 million will be put into the initiative but it may be expanded at some point in the future. If it works well and seems to have a general return on the investment (connecting qualified candidates to fill an open position) then it will be a net positive for Michigan's economic evolution (It is helpful to create as many net positives as possible to improve the fiscal position of the state).

It is important to remember that industry grows through having skilled labor available in sufficient quantity.  Computer certificates to union skilled labor are needed to feed companies for global competitiveness in high technology advanced manufacturing industries. Where people's skills are no longer in alignment they can use a program for this train for new careers to meet international market demand. 

You can read more about Michigan Reconnect from the State Website HERE. 

If your in District 1 (Delta County/UP) and want to know what skills you should study review HERE. 

Note: (This could be transactional component for regional hub development)

Post Office In Marquette to Honor Escanaba Native Senator Tom Casperson

 See a press release before. This is one of our local senators that unfortunately recently passed away :(

The following was taken from a press release via email.....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 1, 2021 CONTACT: James Hogge 231-944-7633

Bergman Introducing Legislation Honoring The Late Senator Tom Casperson

Washington - Today, Rep. Jack Bergman will introduce bipartisan legislation naming the Marquette Post Office after State Senator Tom Casperson. Tom served in the Michigan House and Senate for 14 years, where he passed more than 100 pieces of legislation and was a universally respected voice for the Upper Peninsula. Senator Casperson passed away on November 29, 2020 after a courageous two-year battle with lung cancer. Rep. Jack Bergman stated, “Tom was a tireless leader for those in the Upper Peninsula – never afraid to work across the aisle and always capable of finding common ground for the betterment of the people he served. This legislation, which has already received bipartisan support from members of the Michigan Congressional delegation, is one more way we can honor his memory and help ensure his legacy lives on for many generations to come.” Senator Casperson’s tremendous work as a lawmaker and leader for the U.P. has already been recognized by the Governor and Michigan Legislature, who recently enacted legislation dedicating the bridge on US-2 going over the Escanaba River as the “Senator Tom Casperson Memorial Bridge.” The post office to be named the "Senator Tom Casperson Post Office Building" is located at 202 West Washington Street, Suite 1, in Marquette. While the post office in Senator Casperson’s hometown of Escanaba was initially considered as a candidate for naming, the facility is not owned by the USPS and its lease is currently set to expire in early 2022.

AERA-ICPSR PEERS Data Hub to Hold Free Workshop "Modern Meta-Analysis Research" (Feb. 10th, 21)

This came into my email. It looks like it might be worth the time to join. It states its free so that is good news. If you don't know much about these organizations there is some solid descriptions below.....

AERA "The American Educational Research Association (AERA), a national research society, strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good." (About AERA).

You can read their brochure HERE. 

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) has 750 academic institutions and research organizations"... advances and expands social and behavioral research, acting as a global leader in data stewardship and providing rich data resources and responsive educational opportunities for present and future generations. (About ICPSR)

February 10, 2021 1:00 pm–3:30 pm ET The AERA-ICPSR PEERS Data Hub will hold a free workshop on “Modern Meta-Analysis Research.” The workshop is the first in a series of webinars offered through the PEERS Data Hub that will focus on research methods in STEM education research.   The series is a collaboration with the Institutes in Research Methods (IRM) funded by the National Science Foundation and directed to Building Capacity for STEM Education Research. Aimed at early- and mid-career researchers and scholars, the capacity-building webinar series features 11 IRM projects that promote research expertise in applications of computational, quantitative, qualitative, and evaluative research methods useful to STEM education researchers.   Click Here to Register

Instructors Terri Pigott, Georgia State University Joshua Polanin, American Institutes for Research Ryan Williams, American Institutes for Research   About the Workshop In this workshop, instructors will introduce participants to basic principles of meta-analysis in the context of systematic reviews for STEM education. The instructors will provide a brief overview of the steps of a systematic review using examples from published STEM education meta-analyses. The workshop will focus on best practice methods for meta-analysis, the synthesis of results from quantitative studies. Instructors will introduce effect sizes typically used in STEM systematic reviews including the standardized mean difference and correlations. Participants will practice extracting information needed for effect sizes from STEM research studies. Instructors will use the R program, metafor, for computing effect sizes. Instructors will also introduce basic meta-analysis techniques for estimating the mean effect size from a set of studies and for exploring effect size heterogeneity across studies. Participants will use metafor to compute the mean effect size and its heterogeneity across a set of studies. The workshop will use small data sets derived from published STEM education meta-analyses to demonstrate the method.   ***** The workshop will broadcast live on Zoom. ASL interpretation and captioning will be provided. Register

The PEERS Data Hub is joint effort of AERA and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) that is NSF funded (Award ECR 1937612). It provides collaborative space for STEM education research communities to build and advance knowledge by sharing innovative ideas, methods, and tools. Further information about the PEERS Data Hub is available here.

Transactional Subfactors of Economic Cluster Development (Delta County Michigan)

 As we work through the cluster mapping we find the there are sub factors that impact of flow from one organization to another. The benefit of mapping these flows is that we have the ability to measure that flow on a micro analytic level and see how innovation in clusters is formed when different legs of these connections increase or decrease. This fits within the transactional concept where faster connections often lead to faster growth and innovative efforts through better resource access and allocation. Better understanding of mapping clusters and its subfactors can lead to better analysis and portability.

Mapping Cluster Transactions

Understanding how microtransactions between different entities within the cluster can help to further assess the flow of information, people, resources, patents, contracts, etc... to gain a better understanding of how they interact to create new industries and jobs. If they do not move and adjust, or entrepreneurs don't have an idea on how to make them move, they will be limited in their ability to adapt in a way that masters the market. 

According to Prof. Michael E. Porter from the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), Harvard Business School states, "Cluster mapping describes the process of systematically measuring the presence, size, and performance of clusters across locations, applying common definitions of cluster categories derived from evidence about patterns of location-specific linkages and spill-overs across locations." (Porter, 2017, page 6, para1).  (Seriously worth the read! 👀)

How does it work?

One of thee easiest ways to show this is through building off of the bigger map in previous articles. 

1. Article: DC Shipping

2. Article: DC Tourism Micro-Manufacturing

3. Article: DC Multi-Cluster Dev.

The linkages can be measured to determine the pace and change of activity. Researchers who took interest in these ideas would physically have to go around and measure them in pen and paper. Companies didn't track this information (and still struggle with it) leaving real time review helpful. Big data offers new opportunities to see how clusters work in real time but also allows companies to track when prompt how they are working with others in the clusters (in and outside the cluster).

Harvard and the US Economic Development Administration have developed a broad cluster mapping database that covers the U.S. and other international lactations like Europe.  The U.P.. Michigan has a relatively low innovation ranking of 4.29 (likely from the traditional industries) indicating that improving innovation in Delta County could be a big windfall for locals (not to mention increased profitability of growing businesses). You can see U.P. district dubbed as Marinette WI Economic Area HERE. 

The U.S. Econ. Dev. Admin. categorizes industry into broad categories. A broad approach is used because they are dealing with national data; however, local areas (i.e. Delta County) will have their own unique make up. Local clusters connected to the international markets may also morph new industries through attracting investment, capital and other resources in a way that creates a sustainable growing system that could lead to new industries (based on the flow and influences on subfactors). 

What is a Transactional Subfactor?

The subfactor are measurements used to determine interaction of various elements within the system. For example, it is not enough to put tourism and micro-manufacturing together without understanding how it influences other industries such as community colleges (i.e. Bay De Noc Community College), mining, shipping/distribution, etc... No business works in complete isolation so businesses exist within a network/community of other businesses that influence each other.

One cannot determine how these elements act and interact unless we measure these transactional subfactors (transactions) that occur between these businesses in terms of volume, direction and value. In this example, I'm using 1. Human Spill Over/Intellectual capital, 2. Financial Transactions., 3. Cluster Specific Resources, 4. Add More. You can add as many as you can measure and find (time, emails, phone calls, etc..)

If one could measure the different transactions they would have a fairly solid understanding of how these businesses (and suppliers) influence the growth/decline of the entire cluster and hub. For example, a government grant (could also be business investment, FDI, crowdsourcing, philanthropy, etc...) to the community college might draw in more talent and in turn influence the human capital (research, graduates, etc...) talent for local business to draw on. How such an influx of resources is measured is through the transactional subfactors. 

(We are only limited by what we can measure in the deep neuroeconomic choices that lead to global economic advantage through finding new digital pathways for needs fulfillment. See Article: DC Needs and how those needs can be attracted and retained through proper marketing. See Article DC NeurE.)

Creating this understanding (i.e. Delta County) and how to improve the innovative capacity of the area leads to policy decision making in other areas. What can be accomplished in one area can be accomplished in another. If the subfactors lead to a new discovery we may be able to develop other locations and spark innovation to potentially create whole new industries unseen in the market as of today (I wonder what that would mean for U.S. rejuvenation?). Allowing the next platform (i.e. Digital Economy) to develop will create whole new avenues of needs gratification.

(This is part of a larger Theory of Transactional Clusters which offers a slightly different vantage point of innovation. While its not finished it is in close alignment with leading cluster theories and research. Science works in a community of researchers and shared knowledge improves when different researchers approach the same problem with varying methodologies. If nothing else it could be seen as a slightly different literature justification for something the that was introduced in 2002 and available for practitioners 2010. You can see some pretty cool stuff by other researchers HERE. I started mine in late 2012 in relation to San Diego fishing industry and groups interact. However, where there are difference there are opportunities better understand how two different perspectives of the same phenomenon can lead to insight. I messed around with it for 8 years...maybe there is some benefit. I'm not done yet. If not it was fun! 😕🤷 HERE)

Porter, M. ( June, 2017 ) Cluster Mapping as a Tool for Development. Harvard  Business School.  Harvard Business School. Retrieved January 26th, from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication......

Post-Covid Apocalyptical Rejuvenation Painting

Painting and art are part of the creative process. Exploring new ways of looking at things creates new neural pathways and greater awareness of the details of the things we see in everyday life. Now if I was really good I might call this something else but if its sort of improving skill I will just call it a surreal-abstraction (yes...I can't categorize it! 😨) of a concept I was challenged to do by another artists (a much better one) of "post-COVID Apocalyptic" and I added green for the power of life. 

“There is nothing permanent except change.” — Heraclitus

New Charts Show Comparisons of U.S. and China GDP

 The U.S. has opportunities to revitalize its economy through revamping old infrastructure (especially that which impacts multiple networks on a regional level) by utilizing innovation development practices that push the U.S. to utilize its strongest assets to fully master the digital domain. Jumping into the digital domain and its power to understand big data and the creation of new advanced manufacturing capacity could adjust the national course to a higher end. 

CNBC offers some great charts in their article 'New chart shows China could overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy earlier than expected' by Evelyn Cheng and Yen Nee Lee. 

A few highlights

1. U.S. economy contracted 2.3% vs. China growth 2.3%

2. COVID hits U.S. much harder slowing down economy (Why my break even by 4Q GDP was likely off). 

3. GDP in the US $63,200 per capita while China is at $11,000 per capita. With more innovation and technology (hopefully something our country will put as part of their strategic approaches) we can improve this number to magnify American skill and craftsmanship value.

Cheng, E. & Lee, Y. (January 31, 2021). 'New chart shows China could overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy earlier than expected'. CNBC. Retrieved January 31st, 2021 from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/new-chart-shows-china-gdp-could-overtake-us-sooner-as-covid-took-its-toll.html

Evelyn Cheng@CHENGEVELYN

Yen Nee Lee@YENNEE_LEE

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