Economy League Roundtable I.09: Greater Philadelphia’s Leaders on the Regional Economy

As the national economy suffers its worst decline in 70 years, the Philadelphia metropolitan area’s economy, while struggling, continues to fare better than that of most other regions. That’s the consensus of more than 30 regional business and nonprofit leaders who took part in three days of candid roundtable discussions hosted by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

The following report summarizes the findings from these sessions. Overall, optimism was the undercurrent of the three 90‐minute sessions: the area’s strength in colleges and universities and in world‐renowned teaching and research hospitals (known collectively as “eds and meds”) has been key to the recession’s relatively mild effects. In addition, the Philadelphia area housing market has proven resilient when compared with most other regions, especially in Center City Philadelphia where home values are still above where they were in 2003.