Rhode Island's Economy Is In All Kinds Of Trouble

When it comes to state economies, bigger is not necessarily better — cf. California.
But the nation's smallest state remains stuck in reverse while the rest of the country slowly regains its footing.
Pick any survey or economic indicator, and Rhode Island is at the bottom.
Here's unemployment (and improvement, or lack thereof, since the recession), via Calculated Risk's Bill McBride:

The state was also the only one to register rising unemployment last month.
They also scored dead last in CNBC's survey of states' business climates, third-to-last in Forbes' and fifth-worst in the Tax Foundation's.
Companies who've recently laid off workers there include Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Hasbro — and, last February, every teacher in Providence.
We asked to two Rhode Island economists why such a small state could have such massive problems, and they were unanimous in their response: the state has the same problems as other former industrial powerhouse states, but lacks the Rust Belt glamour and urgency to have done anything about it.

"It's not a recent problem," he said. "It has a history that goes back to the 1990s, when the U.S. economy moved away from a traditional economy," to a knowledge-based one. "With that, you had to change the way you organized your economy, a more flexible system to take advantage of innovation.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rhode-island-economy-2012-8#ixzz2544SztMG