Fri, 15 December 2017
As governments face mounting infrastructure priorities within a resource-constrained environment, leaders and practitioners have turned their attention to creative methods to meet fundamental needs. One such construct is the public-private partnership, an agreement between a private-sector entity and a government agency to collaborate on the delivery of a service or facility to the public. While examples of public-private partnerships – or P3s – exist in the United States, the model’s diversity and flexibility can lead to a lack of clarity regarding the relative advantages. An understanding of the merits and limitations of public-private partnerships would prove worthwhile for a state such as New Jersey, which has yet to authorize P3s for transportation and which houses the fifth-worst infrastructure in the nation. Joining New Start New Jersey for this examination of public-private partnerships is one of the nation’s leading transportation experts, Robert Puentes, President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation. |
Wed, 6 December 2017
Anyone who even casually follows public policy recognizes New Jersey faces a significant challenge with respect to its pension system. The state ranks last in the nation in terms of funding ratio, along with several other metrics that speak to the dimension of the problem. A number of efforts over the years – notably the New Jersey Pension and Health Benefit Study Commission – have outlined steps to mitigate certain outcomes and to place the state on a more practical path. As New Jersey recently elected a new Governor and with pension funding a clear priority, the opportunity exists to weigh all alternatives moving forward. Joining New Start New Jersey for an examination of options available to the state as it approaches the pension situation is one of the country’s foremost experts in retirement security, Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci, the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Chair in economic policy analysis and Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. |