PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island has gotten grades ranging down to wretched in a national study of factors the authors say underlie success in manufacturing.
""Rhode Island remains one of the least hospitable places to manufacture goods in the United States," said Michael Hicks, an economics professor and director of Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
With "below average human capital scores, a tiny logistics industry, a dismal tax climate with very heavy pension liabilities, it appears policymakers in Rhode Island have largely dismissed manufacturing growth as a viable component of the state's economy," he said. Logistics refers to the ability to move and store goods.
The study's authors said they chose the categories "most likely to be considered by site selection experts for manufacturing and logistics firms."