ESI Blog: Present Value
Present Value was created as a platform for sharing ideas, discussing our interests and improving connections with our community. Each week, we invite guest contributors from the ranks of our senior advisors, industry experts, and thought leaders.
As the global pandemic challenged the world order and the US economy suffered its biggest blow since the Great Depression in Q2 2020, the housing market in the US and in Philadelphia briefly experienced a decline in spring due to the stay-at-home orders. After strong housing index growth through February 2020, the Philadelphia Housing Index […]
On all fronts, cities are adopting new technologies and gradually becoming more connected. Innovative digital projects are multiplying, with cities using data and technologies such as cloud, mobile, Internet of Things, AI, and biometrics to improve the quality of urban life. Cities are also relying more on smart solutions to achieve their social, economic, and […]
As we look hopefully and optimistically into the New Year, many of us in higher education continue to struggle with student engagement in a virtual environment. Students have grappled with unforeseen challenges that educators have been ill equipped or ill prepared to deal with. “Professor, I don’t have my camera on because I’m still wiping […]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring a healthy, safe, and prosperous future for citizens has been a burning imperative for city leaders around the world. At the same time, the health crisis has raised the importance of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which many cities have adopted as a framework for achieving their social, environmental, […]
Earlier this year, we created the Higher Education Diversity Index Tool, which analyses a school’s average net price by the percentage of students who are white, non-hispanic. One follow-up question that arose after reviewing this small research project was: Affordability for whom? Using the same data, we decided to dive deeper into this exploration by […]
As we come to the end of this unprecedented year, we reflected on ESI’s most viewed blog posts of the year. Topics span from cybersecurity, real estate, transportation, and of course the most talked about topic this year: COVID-19. We send big thanks to everyone that contributed to our blog, Present Value, in 2020. We […]
It is well known that “Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.” The adversity we have faced as a nation through the Coronavirus Pandemic has revealed the challenges that we still face around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These challenges must be addressed if companies and organizations are to thrive in the future. CNN […]
In our last Philadelphia Housing Index (PHI) Present Value blog post, we took a look at the trend of this year’s housing market since the pandemic started. Our analysis showed that the housing market peaked in April likely because transactions that took place in that month had been in process before much of the economy […]
Recent months have brought unprecedented challenges for governments of all types as they seek to provide safety, prosperity and equity for their citizens. In recent months, ESI’s Government and Public Policy team has worked with our clients across multiple levels of government to help them with both the nuts and bolts and big picture challenges […]
Small businesses account for 90% of new jobs in the United States. A recent survey reveals that: 52% of small business owners can no longer pay themselves or take a draw 61% of Black business owners are working without pay 42% of small businesses have laid off workers or reduced staff salaries or pay 33% […]