QUALITY GRADES

A quick look back at Maine’s grades on an annual economic scorecard, issued again last week, shows the state to be surprisingly consistent since the mid-1990s. Consistent in a mediocre way. Still, there is hope and evidence that Maine may be doing better than the scores indicate.

One reason to pay attention to the Development Report Card by CFED, formerly known as the Corporation for Enterprise Development, is that a broad range of business, labor and social-service advocates respect it. Its 70 measures take into account all kinds of growth issues – education, health care, energy costs, crime rates, financing, manufacturing investment, mass transit, incomes distribution and the condition of bridges, to name just a few.

Yet even with so many ways for states to gain in ranking when compared with each other, Maine -through the gubernatorial terms of a Republican, an independent and now a Democrat – has barely budged. In some instances, it has actually fallen: Just before the devastating recession of the early 1990s, Maine got some good scores for business vitality, for instance. Mostly, though, the state has collected D grades, along with a handful of Cs and Bs.

It shows another consistency, too: Maine is a fine place to live. One of the state’s rare A grades across the years is its quality of life, measured by such factors as migration – Maine is ranked 10th, highest in the Northeast – infant mortality, crime, voting rates, affordable housing and others.

This high quality of life is certainly possible in a more vital business climate but it is worth noting that some of the measures of a vigorous business climate are not normally found in states with Maine’s demographics. For instance, Maine ranked a dismal 36th for initial public offerings. It scored similarly low for the percentage of its work force in high-tech fields. Its urban mass transit ranking was 44th.

These areas will always be challenges, but they may not matter very much. Beadsie Woo, a senior economist at CFED, said Maine’s best chance was to forego “smoke-stack chasing” for pursuing businesses that provide living wages and decent benefits. The Baldacci administration’s Pine Tree Zones are an example of that, though Ms. Woo said that to make a difference in the economy, Maine’s leaders must “be bold. Be really bold.”

If Maine sticks to the quality of its businesses, rather than the sheer amount of it, it could be both bold and preserve its quality of life. Low scores on some measures then would be meaningless.