Sustainable Prosperity: Keeping California Competitive

Featuring

Eileen Norcross 
Senior Research Fellow
Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Click here to view Dr. Norcross's Power Point presentation from this lecture.

California is the sixth largest economy in the world with a gross state product of $1.4 trillion. It is home to Fortune 500 companies, the entertainment industry, and is a leader in agriculture, technological, and environmental innovation. Yet in recent years California has witnessed demographic changes affecting education, health care, and its infrastructure.

This session explores the factors that are the cause for California's prosperity and asks: How can policymakers ensure that California remains a world leader in the face of today's challenges to its economy? What policies might lawmakers pursue to make certain that California will continue on a path towards greater prosperity for all of its residents?

Participants will address such topics as:

• How various economic development policies create incentives, and how these incentives can advance or undermine sustainable economic growth.

• How policymakers might create opportunities for California’s dynamic labor force and encourage entrepreneurship.

• How California might preserve and enhance its competitiveness in the global economy while adhering to its values.