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.
Recently, we sat down with our Senior Advisor for a rapid-fire Q&A session on equity and inclusion. The objective of our discussion was to provide substance and focus in support of the key areas that must be addressed in order to effect real progress and lasting change. This exert includes Angela Dowd-Burton’s full response. LH: […]
The disproportionate impact of COVID and of economic distress on Black and Brown people. The unending and infuriating cycle of Black bodies being assaulted before our eyes. The resulting pain and protest that is being manifested in communities across the country. The events of this past year have underscored the deep inequities, systemic injustices, and entrenched racism in this nation. […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is spurring the next wave of the digital revolution. As we enter the cognitive age, forward-looking companies are using AI to transform every aspect of their business—from customer engagement and R&D to cybersecurity and back-office operations. For these firms, AI is more than a technology, it is a new way of doing […]
The Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is a highly competitive economic development program that funds capital projects all over the Commonwealth. The program requires a substantial application, and Econsult Solutions has significant experience working with clients, especially on economic impact studies and job estimates that are part of the application process. Since 2014, ESI has […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the reframing and reimagining of countless policy decisions, laying bare the strengths and weaknesses of systems ranging from public health to welfare, financial regulation to political federalism. However, the unique and dire circumstances induced by the pandemic have pulled into the spotlight innovative solutions to these problems with implications that […]
The last time we featured the Philadelphia Housing Index (PHI) in a Present Value blog post, we were in simpler times—back in February and talking about the future trajectory of the Far Northeast. It is not news to point out the substantial slowdown in home sales on account of COVID-19’s disruption or the slower pace […]
A few months ago, we focused on the implications for our cities’ nightlife scenes as a result of halted operations due to social distancing during the pandemic. Back in April, we knew there would be far reaching implications for workers and business owners running restaurants, bars, and venues, even as they have begun operating at […]
In April 2019, I published an article with ESI attempting a prognostication on the future of US higher education. Little did I know that 2020 would be the most dramatic and unpredictable year ever in higher education. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when I reread my 2019 article this week that despite the upheavals […]
They say every crisis is an opportunity. But you could excuse the higher ed sector for being able to embrace this truism, swamped as it is with the financial pain, logistical burden, and overall uncertainty inflicted upon it by COVID-19. Amid the struggle to adjust budgets, plan for re-opening, and stay in touch with students […]
What will the post-pandemic landscape look like for brands and retailers in North America? Anyone who tells you they know what retail will look like over the next three years is lying.” This is a quote from one of my favorite retail real estate execs during the Great Recession and it’s still applicable. COVID-19 has […]