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Economist: Modern approach needed
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Posted on Sep 06 2000
Ed Stephens, Jr., a CNMI-based economist, said that the Commonwealth is “unnecessarily poor” compared to Guam, and must take a modern approach to economic planning if it wants to succeed in the modern world.
Citing statistics as published in the Saipan Tribune on Tuesday, Mr. Stephens said that “Guam has twice the per person Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the Commonwealth has.” He was referring to the fact that Guam’s GDP is almost $19,000 per person, while Saipan’s is just a bit over $8,000 per person.
Mr. Stephens said the Commonwealth has “major threats and major opportunities. The major threat is that our established, bedrock industries will be crippled. The major opportunity is that if we can solidify our established industrial base and plan correctly, we can attract industries such as Information Technology that will create good jobs for our citizens.”
Mr. Stephens said “the economics of our situation is pretty simple to understand, and the planning isn’t all that complicated. But the CNMI needs to forget the old, failed approaches to planning and use a modern outlook for a modern world.”
He concluded, “the time for action is now. The economic train is leaving the station…and we’re not on it.”
