CICP News & Updates

Americans continue to view globalization with mixed feelings.  According to polling by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, support for globalization has waned: 64% of adults thought globalization had been mostly good for the U.S. in 2004, but only 58% thought so last July, and only 56% felt that way in September 2008.  To our north, a recent Big Ten Battleground poll shows that 55% of Michiganders think that “free trade agreements like NAFTA, and organizations like the World Trade Organization” are “a bad thing for the United States.”

Well, here in Indiana, the benefits of globalization continue to be felt.  According to the recent annual Global Location Trends study by IBM (released October 22), Indiana led the nation in attracting new jobs through foreign investment (on a per capita basis) for the second consecutive year.

This ranking owes much to the aggressive efforts of Governor Daniels and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a highly-productive Hoosier workforce (which leads the Midwest in output per worker), and the relative ease of serving the U.S. market from Indiana’s central location (with two-thirds of the nation’s population and businesses within one day’s truck drive).  It also shows that Indiana is well-positioned to compete and win in the global economy, if we continue to leverage our advantages and step up to the plate in addressing looming challenges (like strengthening the educational attainment of our workforce).

You can download the IBM report here.