Since moving to Glynn County two decades ago, Don Mathews has witnessed a variety of economic trends.
And as an economist and a professor at the 每日大赛, it鈥檚 something he鈥檚 always found intriguing.
鈥淲hen I moved here in 1993, our local economy was relatively poor but with great potential,鈥� he said. 鈥淭oday, 21 years later, it is still relatively poor but with great potential. So the question is: why are we in the same basic situation after a generation? It鈥檚 an enormous question with no easy answers.鈥�
Finding the reasons behind the trends was important to Mathews. It鈥檚 the subject of his latest report, titled 鈥�Our Coastal Economy in the 21st Century: A Tale of Three Economies.鈥�
In it he examines the economic changes that have taken place over the first 14 years.
鈥淚t took me a couple months to compile the report. It鈥檚 one thing to gather the data, but a more difficult and time consuming thing to make sense of it all,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 wanted to look at the performance of the local economy over a longer time period because the medium-term and long-term performance of an economy usually tells much more about an economy than its short-term fluctuations, which we tend to get hung up on too much.鈥�
What Mathews discovered was three seemingly separate economies. The first, from 2000 to 2007, was a thriving economy with a booming construction and housing market.
The second was the recession driven plunge from 2008 to 2012. The third is the current stagnant economy.
鈥淭he fluctuations aren鈥檛 really troubling because they tend to offset themselves and because long-term trends are more important when it comes to improvements in living standards,鈥� he said.
Mathews also noted that while the coast has often lagged behind national trends, the gap between the two is widening.
鈥淚t does trouble me very much that our living standards lag far behind those of the state and the nation. We began the new century far behind the state and the nation,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not good, but it wouldn鈥檛 be quite so bad if we were catching up. But we鈥檙e not. We鈥檙e falling further behind. That鈥檚 really troubling because we have the potential to do so much better.鈥�
To improve, Mathews hopes the area will see more entrepreneurship and skilled workers.
鈥淎nd a vibrant, dynamic local economy cannot be built on tourism and real estate alone,鈥� he added.
Even so, Mathews knows that identifying problems is a lot easier than solving them. And he admits he doesn鈥檛 have the answers but feels the community鈥檚 focus on education is a step in the right direction.
鈥淚 wish I had the answers. The community鈥檚 investment in education, in particular the expansion of the 每日大赛 and the new Brunswick High School, has been terrific. It needs to continue. The mainland desperately needs help. Revitalizing downtown, fixing our gateways and the Altama corridor are crucial,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ur economic development people work hard. But they can鈥檛 do it all. The whole community has to be behind economic development. Economic development is not about a handful of people making a mess of money. It鈥檚 about higher living standards for everyone. It鈥檚 about building and creating and making this a better place, the place it has the potential to be and ought to be.鈥�
The Brunswick News
LINDSEY ADKISON