Personal income rose more than 6 percent in metropolitan Boston last year, growing faster than income nationally, the Commerce Department reported. Boston’s per capita, or per person, income rose to $53,763 from $50,542 in 2006, a 6.4 percent increase. Nationally, income rose 5.2 percent. The Boston area has the seventh highest income among 363 US [...]

From last week’s Economist: One study that covered most of the 1980s and 1990s found that 45% of young Americans with a college degree moved state within five years of graduating, whereas only 19% of those with [just] a high-school education did. Keep this in mind, next time someone complains that it is primarily the [...]

UPDATE, AUGUST 2008: Nope. Didn’t happen. A victim of the severe credit crunch, the Massachusetts Educational Financial Authority (MEFA) announced earlier this year that it might not be able to make new loans to college students. To the relief of thousands of parents, this has changed. From the Boston Business Journal: [MEFA] plans to make [...]

So, a lot of ink was spilled when the Census Bureau released data a couple years ago that showed Boston was losing population. Subsequently, it was discovered that, in fact, population had increased. Same thing happened on a state-level, if memory serves me correctly. In fact, Massachusetts has gained population, over the past fifteen years. [...]

The New York Times gives Massachusetts its day in the spotlight: Gay Couples Find Marriage Is a Mixed Bag – By Pam Belluck, The New York Times Point of article: Apparently, a lot of gay people are hairdressers and also enjoy gardening? And, men are pigs. The Massachusetts Model – Editorial, The New York Times [...]

I was reading some story on Boston.com or somewhere and saw a link at the bottom saying something like, “Pursue Vermont!”. I clicked (good marketing program, I guess). It turned out to be a site set up by the state government of Vermont to encourage Massachusetts citizens to leave the Commonwealth and move to Vermont! [...]

Carla Howell, erstwhile gubernatorial candidate and proud Libertarian, is leading the charge to abolish Massachusetts’ income tax. She was recently interviewed for an article in Banker & Tradesman. Q: Gov. Deval Patrick has said your idea to abolish the state income tax is “stupid,” and he told Banker & Tradesman, “I get the point that [...]

The feature film “Bride Wars” is now filming in and around Boston. This is the second film to be made in Massachusetts by Academy-Award nominated actress Kate Hudson since the new tax credits / revenue giveaway program was passed by The Commonwealth, a couple years ago. The Massachusetts tax credit program allows producers to submit [...]

Two from the Boston Business Journal. First, the under-development Russia Wharf has signed up a big tenant. Wellington Management Co. LLP has inked a deal to occupy 450,000 square feet of space at Russia Wharf, capping one of Boston’s largest lease deals in recent months. Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP), which is building a 552,000-square-foot [...]

Apparently, it’s going to cost $250 million in state dollars* to reconstruct the Longfellow Bridge, which goes from Cambridge to Boston. The bridge carries cars as well as the Red Line. And, there are sidewalks on either side. This is the “salt and pepper” bridge. Whether or not the bridge is safe and renovation can [...]