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| New England Public Policy Center | |
|---|---|
| Name | New England Public Policy Center |
| Formation | 2006 |
| Type | Research center |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Parent organization | Federal Reserve Bank of Boston |
New England Public Policy Center The New England Public Policy Center is a regional research unit housed within the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that conducts applied analysis on socioeconomic issues affecting the six-state New England region. The Center produces studies for policymakers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont and informs debates involving institutions such as the U.S. Treasury Department, Congress of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, and state legislatures. Its work interfaces with stakeholders including the Boston City Council, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Yale University, and regional nonprofit organizations.
The Center was established in 2006 as part of the Federal Reserve System's regional research network and emerged amid post-Hurricane Katrina policy concern and shifts in federal regional engagement. Early collaborations included projects with the Brookings Institution, Urban Institute, and National Bureau of Economic Research to study housing markets after the 2007–2008 financial crisis and labor force dynamics following the Great Recession. Over time the Center expanded links to state executive branches such as the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and municipal partners like the City of Providence and City of Boston to study topics from housing affordability to regional transportation.
The Center's mission emphasizes applied, evidence-based analysis to support policymakers in the New England region, aligning with mandates similar to those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Federal Reserve System. Core focus areas include housing and affordability, labor markets, demographic change, urban resilience, and transportation infrastructure. Projects frequently intersect with federal and state programs administered by entities such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Highway Administration, and regional authorities like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The Center issues working papers, policy briefs, and data tools drawing on methods used by the National Bureau of Economic Research, RAND Corporation, and academic departments at Brown University and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Publications analyze topics including housing supply constraints using models comparable to those from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, evaluate commuting patterns informed by U.S. Census Bureau data and the American Community Survey, and estimate labor demand shifts paralleling research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Center's data visualizations and dashboards have been used by state agencies, think tanks like the Pew Charitable Trusts and Economic Policy Institute, and municipal planning offices.
Center research has informed legislation and administrative action at the state and municipal level, influencing debates in the Massachusetts State House, Connecticut General Assembly, and policy initiatives of the Rhode Island Office of Revenue Analysis. Outreach includes testimony before legislative committees, briefings for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and workshops with nonprofit partners such as Massachusetts Housing Partnership and Local Initiatives Support Corporation. The Center convenes panels featuring researchers from Harvard Kennedy School, Tufts University, and the University of Connecticut, and provides evidence used in reports by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and regional planning agencies like the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Administratively, the Center operates as a specialized unit within the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston with a director who coordinates research economists, data scientists, and policy analysts. Staff often hold joint appointments or affiliations with academic institutions including Dartmouth College and Northeastern University and collaborate with federal statistical agencies such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Governance aligns with the Federal Reserve Bank's oversight and engages advisory boards comprising officials from state governments, foundations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and private sector partners including regional banks and consulting firms.
Funding for Center activities derives primarily from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's budget, supplemented by grants and cooperative agreements with foundations and agencies such as the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and state executive offices. Collaborative research partners include the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Federal Transit Administration, and academic centers like the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Project-specific funding has come from philanthropic sources such as the Surdna Foundation and from intergovernmental consortia involving the New England Commission on Higher Education.
Notable studies have examined housing supply constraints in Greater Boston, commuter impacts related to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's service changes, and regional demographic trends in Maine and Vermont associated with aging populations. The Center produced influential analyses on Covid-19's labor market effects referencing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Small Business Administration, and contributed forecasting models used by state revenue offices during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Other projects include assessments of resilience to coastal flooding in cooperation with NOAA, workforce development studies tied to the Community College System of New Hampshire, and evaluations of inclusionary zoning policies similar to those considered in the City of Cambridge and City of Boston.
Category:Public policy research institutes in the United States