The social costs of Ohio's economic growth
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Ohio's gross domestic product — the total value of goods and services produced across its economy — has bounced back after taking a sizable hit in 2020, but that doesn't mean the state has completely recovered from the effects of the pandemic.
Driving the news: In a new report, local public policy firm Scioto Analysis urges state leaders to consider ongoing social challenges, not just an apparently rosy economy, when making important decisions like passing a state budget.
Why it matters: Scioto Analysis principal Rob Moore fears if policymakers take a narrow focus on GDP, they could overlook the struggles of average Ohioans instead of taking proper action to help them.
By the numbers: The state's GDP has grown steadily the last two years to over $800 billion in 2022, Scioto Analysis data shows.
Yes, but: Moore believes GDP gives an "incomplete picture" of the state's post-COVID recovery.
- Some Ohioans still cannot afford housing, health care and other essentials.
- Inflation/the economy was the most pressing issue facing Ohio voters last fall, polls showed.
What they found: Scioto Analysis instead tracks Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), which weighs market gains with social harms like crime, pollution and income inequality.
- The result is a gap of hundreds of billions of dollars between GDP and GPI in Ohio.
- The gap is evident in examples big and small: a new factory might create jobs, but pollutes the atmosphere; a cigarette purchase helps the economy, but leads to health problems.
The intrigue: Unpaid work such as home caregiving is an especially undervalued economic resource, Moore finds.
- Parents can better reach their earnings potential if they can access high-quality child care, but that's becoming an expensive luxury.
- A budget proposal passed by the Ohio Senate rolls back most of Gov. Mike DeWine's proposed expansion of public child care support.
What they're saying: "If you're just looking at the budget from the perspective of how the state is spending, you can miss the social impact," Moore says. "Which is: What are we getting from that spending?"
- "I hope that policymakers are thinking of that" while negotiating the final budget, he added.