The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity recently released a Report Card on Rhode Island “Competitiveness” finding the state to be below average — indeed, failing — in just about every marker it reviewed, from tax burden to living and retiring.  Meanwhile, the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council (RIPEC) has released a report (PDF) reviewing findings of five national rankings that focus on business climate, with this dramatically understated summary:

According to these studies, Rhode Island has room for improvement with regard to its ability to attract and retain business. While each analysis includes different variables, and weights each variable differently, there were a few common themes throughout the five analyses. In general, Rhode Island ranks in the bottom 10 for business friendliness, indicating that the national perception is that the state is not a good place in which to do business. Similarly, the state consistently ranked at the bottom of the states for business costs, the economic climate, and the regulatory environment. All five of these reports indicate that Rhode Island needs development in a number of different arenas in order to compete more effectively with states which have lower tax and regulatory burdens, better transportation infrastructure, lower costs of doing business, and stronger economies.

The state’s actual ranks (which, with one exception, are not likely to surprise Rhode Island readers) tell the story:

• Tax Foundation State Business Climate Index: 42nd
• Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council Small Business Survival Index: 47th
• Beacon Hill Institute State Competitive Ranking: 20th
• CNBC Top States for Business: 50th
• Forbes Best States for Business: 48th

Clearly, the outlier on the list is Beacon Hill — a Boston-based think tank newly added to RIPEC’s annual report.  Given the stark difference, The Current will be looking more closely at the institute’s methods, but some explanation of the difference can be found in the limited data conveyed by RIPEC.  For instance, Rhode Island ranks 2nd in the nation for “Security,” which is a blend of crime statistics and “existing transparency, ethics and accountability laws.”  It is certainly encouraging to know that Rhode Islanders are apparently unlikely to be mugged on their way to a Town Council meeting, either by a criminal or a guard at the door, but whether that factor affects business decisions on the scale of “Government & Fiscal Policy” (RI rank: 42), “Infrastructure” (34), and “Business Incubation” (32) is a matter of debate.