"New Hampshire is on the cutting edge of a dynamic New Economy. It's an economy where success is founded on ideas, innovation and information. It's an economy where people are our most precious resources"
-- New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Feb. 3, 2000.

Everybody knows there's a New Economy out there in Silicon Valley, where software engineers earn high salaries designing our technological futures. But it's taking longer to sink in that the New Economy is not just about people who work in the Information Technology (IT) sector or who spend their spare time surfing the web. It is a profound change in how and where we work; what we are able to produce; how we exchange information, goods and services; and what it takes to succeed individually and collectively. Because productivity-enhancing technologies are transforming nearly every industry and occupation, the New Economy increasingly encompasses the total economy.

The pervasive growth of the New Economy should have a decisive impact on public policy, but all too often, political leaders and government officials think encouraging the New Economy is a simple matter of growing an IT sector and tossing up a web page for an agency or a campaign.

Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is one public figure who "gets it." Her 2000 State of the State Address, assessing New Hampshire's current condition and laying out an agenda for the next year, was organized entirely around the New Economy.

It's especially interesting that the Governor of a state legendary for its hostility toward taxes has not embraced the common conservative myth that government can best contribute to the New Economy by simply getting out of the way. Shaheen correctly cites education (from early childhood to university research), child care, lifelong learning, universal access to health insurance, recreational opportunities to attract international visitors, "smart growth" development planning, and information technology infrastructure as critical public responsibilities that are essential to give her citizens the tools they need to succeed in the New Economy. She also cites New Hampshire's low poverty rates and low crime rates, not just low tax rates, as key business advantages.

Finally, Gov. Shaheen recognizes that government must lead by example in fostering the New Economy, by "digitizing" its operations, and offering information and services online. Just as importantly, in announcing a shift to "performance budgeting" for all state agencies, she embraces the key "reinventing government" principle of the information age: managing government according to measurable results rather than "funding" inputs.

In general, Jeanne Shaheen has already undertaken the fundamental reorientation on how to think about the New Economy that we have urged on all state and local officials in the Progressive Policy Institute's State New Economy Index. Her leadership bodes well for the future prosperity of New Hampshire. Moreover, Gov. Shaheen's New Economy "rap" truly "wraps" a New Democrat agenda around a coherent strategy for fostering success for a highly mobile citizenry that needs skills, knowledge, information, and control over benefits and wealth-building assets. It's a practice all New Democrats should emulate.