8 Policy Strategies Cities Can Use to Support Local Businesses

Date: 28 Aug 2017 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Independent businesses are among the best engines that cities have for advancing economic opportunity. But they’re disappearing in many places. This isn’t, in large part, because these businesses aren’t competitive. It’s because misguided public policy and concentrated market power are working against them. In this policy brief, we present 8 ways that cities can level the playing field and ensure that local businesses have the opportunity to start, grow, and thrive.… Read More

Independent Businesses Report Growing Sales and Hiring, but Policies Tilted in Favor of Large Companies Hold Them Back

Date: 10 Feb 2016 | posted in: Press Release, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The 2016 Independent Business Survey finds that independent businesses experienced brisk sales and a sharp increase in hiring in 2015, but that biased policies and other obstacles are limiting their success.… Read More

How Washington Punishes Small Business

Date: 8 May 2015 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In our op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, we look at how much of our public policy seems to designed to bend the market in the favor of big corporations, and put small, independent businesses at a competitive disadvantage.… Read More

The Do-It-Yourselves Downtown

Date: 23 Feb 2015 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

There’s an emerging model that offers a glimpse of a new, better way for communities to generate economic development. It’s called a real estate investment cooperative, and the benefits include new jobs in the neighborhood, local sources for key goods, a return on investment, and more — plus the opportunity for communities to do it themselves.… Read More

Understanding the Small Business Credit Crunch

Date: 16 Apr 2014 | posted in: Banking, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Even as their big competitors are awash in capital, many locally owned businesses are struggling to secure the financing they need to grow. This analysis finds that, since 2000, bank lending to large businesses is up 36 percent, while small business loan volume has fallen 14 percent and “micro” business loans — those under $100,000 — have plummeted 33 percent.… Read More