AKA the “Pennsylvania’s Beach” State
New Jersey is sandwiched between Philadelphia and New-York City, not a bad place when you’re looking for some industries to support your economy.
I struggled to decide on a nickname for the state. ”New York’s Suburb” & “New England’s Hicks” were strong contenders. This is because of the fact your can actually buy some property in the state and the vast amount of commuters to Manhattan. Ironically, NJ has the highest population density despite this. Mostly because the metro areas in other states have larger rural areas as well, (think PA, NY, and MA). Ultimately, “Pennsylvania’s Beach” won out for the geographic location.
The Weakonomist was surprised to learn about how versatile the state is. The northern part of the state (west of NYC) is mountainous, owing to many lakes and ski resorts. As you head south you’ll find the famous Jersey Shore, which includes a nude beach. Throw in a half-dozen amusement parks, some pro sports teams (including both New York football teams) and you can see tourism is not a problem for this tiny state.
One of the most prestigious public universities in the country calls New-Jersey home, Rutgers. This is complemented by one of the most prestigious private universities, a little place called Princeton. I am compelled to point out that Princeton offers great liberal arts programs, but the lack of a medical school, law school, and business school keeps the economic impact relatively small compared to other Ivys.
But Jersey isn’t all about bringing in vacationers from the mid-atlantic and New England states. They’ve got some serious industry going on. Pharmaceutical research is very big in the state. Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Merck, Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Schering-Plough are a few such big names. Even then the state is not a one trick pony. Elsewhere you’ll find the corporate headquarters of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Communications (the long distance arm). As if that wasn’t enough New Jersey proudly embraces various types of farming. These include horses, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seafood.
As I’ve mentioned my love of the fine automobiles BMW produces, I must point out the North American headquarters are also in the state of New Jersey.
Powering all this operation is provided by nuclear energy mostly. This makes the carbon footprint of the state very small, considering the amount of people that live there this is quite impressive.
Even all of that is not enough to satisfy the needs of the Jersey population. The state is known as a “bedroom community.” Being right next to both Philadelphia and New-York City means much of the commuters to those impressive sights of commerce are coming across state lines every day. All of this adds up to making New Jersey one of the wealthiest states in the union.
The bed of roses stops there because New Jersey does have some pitfalls. They suffer from what is called a “federal taxation disparity.” In essence this means they give more to the federal government than they get back. According to Wikipedia, in 2005 they sent $77 billion to Washington and only got $55 billion back. This forces the state to place a hefty tax burden on its citizens.
The Jersey shore has a notorious, and well deserved, reputation for being crowded and dirty. Jon Stewart has quipped that his home state, and current place of residence, is full of crime. He states the truth, but in defense of the state they have seen large drops across all types of crime since the highs of the 70s. Because of the large emigration of Italians to New-York in the 19th century there’s is a large population with this ancestry. I wouldn’t imply anything here but, the hit TV show about the mafia The Sopranos takes place in Jersey and real mob bosses are known to set up shop in the state. I’m jus sayin….
Finally the reputation of the locals. I have never been to New Jersey, but I can only go based on what I know of people that have moved south and what they tell me of life back home. The people there are rude. Social groups are more combative, traffic congestion does not yield much for merging vehicles, and the accent is one of the most painful to listen to.
No doubt, New Jersey would at least be a fascinating place to live.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. |
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Said,
All I can say is wow, the purpose of this is to educate the rest of the country about different states, how about you lay off the stereotypes and concentrate on the economics. Since in your bio you say you live in the southeast, I assume when you get to your state you will talk about shotguns, moonshine and being racist. Until then, seriously, lay off the stereotypes.
I lived most of my life in NJ, and yeah the traffic is bad but the state is filled with good people making a living, and trying to get by. But I will give you this one stereotype, if you decide to drive in NJ realize we have our own driving style here and yeah it’s not for the weak of heart. But you would drive that way too if you were the most densly populated state and had an influx of visitiors every year trying to get to the ocean