Quarterly Economic Pulse December 2009

The most recent Quarterly Economic Pulse has just been published—local data about the economy and what that means and how it affects the nonprofit sector. The Pulse is a joint venture of Greater Twin Cities United Way and Twin Cities Compass, and this is our third issue (see previous issues here—you have to scroll down a little bit for the links).

The good news: The economy is inching its way out of recession, reflected in Gross Domestic Product, employment figures, consumer confidence and the stock market. Key word: inching.

The bad news: Because this is expected to be a long, slow, jobless (or nearly jobless) recovery with employment and wages depressed through much of 2010, there will be little relief for the social service sector, which is expected to see high levels of need—especially in the areas of food, housing/shelter, and healthcare—continue through much of the year.

However, some hope is better than no hope, and things will eventually turn the corner for the nonprofit sector as well.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for some interesting reading material to start out the new year, check out The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. More on this later….

Lauren Segal, president and CEO of Greater Twin Cities United Way, is leaving us at the end of this month for greener pastures. She kindly agreed to answer a few questions as she’s wrapping things up:

• What are you most proud of having accomplished while you were at United Way?

Lauren: There are two things that come to mind. The first is the combination of the Minneapolis and St. Paul United Ways in 2001.  No one expected it, no one thought it would happen or could happen—and we did it!  It was great fun to build a whole new organization.

The second accomplishment, without a doubt, is the development of the Agenda for Lasting Change and our focus on people at or near the poverty line.  The focus on issues that people hear and know about, and showing measurable impact on a community scale, is incredibly rewarding.

•  What will you miss most about your job?  

Lauren: The opportunity to work with the dedicated staff and volunteers to build pathways out of poverty.

•  What will you miss the least?

Lauren: This position required me to be in many different places, often at the same time!  It was not unusual for me to start my day at 7:30 a.m., and, because of community events, be out until 9:00 or 10:00 at night.  Not to mention emails, reading, etc. relegated to the weekends.  I am looking forward to spending more quality time with my husband.

•  What is/was your favorite moment at United Way?

Lauren: There were too many to name just one!  Most of them were times when I had the opportunity to work with volunteers packing food at food shelves, building a Habitat house with the future residents, or reading to children, or to witness the success of a program or initiative we had started. 

•  What was your funniest moment at United Way?

Lauren: Let’s see—it’s between wearing pajamas and singing “I’m a Little Teapot” with the senior leadership team for the internal campaign, or dancing the evening—and early morning hours—away at our staff holiday party. 

• What are you most looking forward to in the next phase of your life?

Lauren: Climbing a new mountain—finding new ways to help volunteers, staff, and organizations transform themselves to meet future challenges.  And as I said before, having a little more balance in my life, so I can spend time with my husband, Rich, take up a hobby, spend time with friends, and volunteer.

Thank you Lauren, for your many years of service and dedication to United Way. We will miss you!

I was reading an article in Ode the other day, about economics and altruism.

The article’s basic tenet is that current economic theory is premised on the belief that people will generally work toward their own material advantage. But, they point out, recent research in behavioral economics finds that people are much more altruistic than standard economics gives them credit for.

Here’s the part I found most interesting: Sometime in the 1990s, Robert Frank, a Cornell University economist, conducted research to test the hypothesis: “Exposure to the self-interest model commonly used in economics alters the extent to which people behave in self-interested ways.” A less neutral reading of that might be: People who believe that selfish behavior is the norm behave more selfishly.

 And here’s what he found:

[E]conomics professors gave less to charity than their university colleagues; and when asked to imagine they’d found somebody else’s $100 bill, economics students were three times more likely to say they’d keep the money than students from the astronomy department.

The implication is that being steeped in economic theory, thinking everyone is out for their own gain, causes one to be more selfish, less altruistic. Now, I don’t know if that’s true, but the idea of expectations and outcomes is interesting. According to the author, negativity begets negativity. I have no quarrel with that—I can think of any number of times where someone’s rudeness has soured my day. 

That leads in some interesting directions. What would an altruistic-based economics look like? That’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?

It also got me thinking about education, and how the same thing holds true there: Expectations play a huge role in educational attainment. Teacher expectations, parent expectations, even peer expectations.  

I have never really thought about how my expectations affect my everyday life. Or how they affect people around me. I am going to pay attention to this for the next few weeks, and will report back to you. Suggestions for experiments (that won’t get me fired) are welcome.