1 00:00:01,286 --> 00:00:05,774 In this talk today, I want to present a different idea 2 00:00:05,774 --> 00:00:09,995 for why investing in early childhood education 3 00:00:09,995 --> 00:00:12,694 makes sense as a public investment. 4 00:00:12,694 --> 00:00:14,932 It's a different idea, because usually, 5 00:00:14,932 --> 00:00:16,305 when people talk about early childhood programs, 6 00:00:16,305 --> 00:00:19,646 they talk about all the wonderful benefits for participants 7 00:00:19,646 --> 00:00:22,928 in terms of former participants, in preschool, 8 00:00:22,928 --> 00:00:25,193 they have better K-12 test scores, 9 00:00:25,193 --> 00:00:27,308 better adult earnings. 10 00:00:27,308 --> 00:00:29,423 Now that's all very important, 11 00:00:29,423 --> 00:00:33,519 but what I want to talk about is what preschool does 12 00:00:33,519 --> 00:00:35,341 for state economies 13 00:00:35,341 --> 00:00:38,638 and for promoting state economic development. 14 00:00:38,638 --> 00:00:41,931 And that's actually crucial 15 00:00:41,931 --> 00:00:45,255 because if we're going to get increased investment 16 00:00:45,255 --> 00:00:47,598 in early childhood programs, 17 00:00:47,598 --> 00:00:51,121 we need to interest state governments in this. 18 00:00:51,121 --> 00:00:53,347 The federal government has a lot on its plate, 19 00:00:53,347 --> 00:00:55,845 and state governments are going to have to step up. 20 00:00:55,845 --> 00:00:58,028 So we have to appeal to them, 21 00:00:58,028 --> 00:01:00,581 the legislators in the state government, 22 00:01:00,581 --> 00:01:02,571 and turn to something they understand, 23 00:01:02,571 --> 00:01:04,869 that they have to promote the economic development 24 00:01:04,869 --> 00:01:06,556 of their state economy. 25 00:01:06,556 --> 00:01:08,372 Now, by promoting economic development, 26 00:01:08,372 --> 00:01:10,086 I don't mean anything magical. 27 00:01:10,086 --> 00:01:13,549 All I mean is, is that early childhood education 28 00:01:13,549 --> 00:01:17,452 can bring more and better jobs to a state 29 00:01:17,452 --> 00:01:20,630 and can thereby promote higher per capita earnings 30 00:01:20,630 --> 00:01:22,580 for the state's residents. 31 00:01:22,580 --> 00:01:26,573 Now, I think it's fair to say that when people think about 32 00:01:26,573 --> 00:01:28,577 state and local economic development, 33 00:01:28,577 --> 00:01:32,359 they don't generally think first about what they're doing 34 00:01:32,359 --> 00:01:34,914 about childcare and early childhood programs. 35 00:01:34,914 --> 00:01:38,817 I know this. I've spent most of my career researching these programs. 36 00:01:38,817 --> 00:01:40,440 I've talked to a lot of directors 37 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,768 of state economic development agencies about these issues, 38 00:01:42,768 --> 00:01:45,310 a lot of legislators about these issues. 39 00:01:45,310 --> 00:01:48,369 When legislators and others think about economic development, 40 00:01:48,369 --> 00:01:51,625 what they first of all think about are business tax incentives, 41 00:01:51,625 --> 00:01:54,503 property tax abatements, job creation tax credits, 42 00:01:54,503 --> 00:01:57,190 you know, there are a million of these programs all over the place. 43 00:01:57,190 --> 00:01:59,796 So for example, states compete very vigorously 44 00:01:59,796 --> 00:02:03,461 to attract new auto plants or expanded auto plants. 45 00:02:03,461 --> 00:02:05,601 They hand out all kinds of business tax breaks. 46 00:02:05,601 --> 00:02:07,799 Now, those programs can make sense 47 00:02:07,799 --> 00:02:10,801 if they in fact induce new location decisions, 48 00:02:10,801 --> 00:02:12,186 and the way they can make sense is, 49 00:02:12,186 --> 00:02:14,499 by creating more and better jobs, 50 00:02:14,499 --> 00:02:18,082 they raise employment rates, raise per capita earnings of state residents. 51 00:02:18,082 --> 00:02:20,152 So there is a benefit to state residents 52 00:02:20,152 --> 00:02:22,301 that corresponds to the costs that they're paying 53 00:02:22,301 --> 00:02:24,574 by paying for these business tax breaks. 54 00:02:24,574 --> 00:02:28,382 My argument is essentially that early childhood programs 55 00:02:28,382 --> 00:02:32,107 can do exactly the same thing, 56 00:02:32,107 --> 00:02:36,016 create more and better jobs, but in a different way. 57 00:02:36,016 --> 00:02:38,434 It's a somewhat more indirect way. 58 00:02:38,434 --> 00:02:42,080 These programs can promote more and better jobs by, 59 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,955 you build it, you invest in high-quality preschool, 60 00:02:44,955 --> 00:02:48,773 it develops the skills of your local workforce 61 00:02:48,773 --> 00:02:52,516 if enough of them stick around, and, in turn, 62 00:02:52,516 --> 00:02:54,669 that higher-quality local workforce 63 00:02:54,669 --> 00:02:59,361 will be a key driver of creating jobs and creating 64 00:02:59,361 --> 00:03:01,869 higher earnings per capita in the local community. 65 00:03:01,869 --> 00:03:04,833 Now, let me turn to some numbers on this. 66 00:03:04,833 --> 00:03:09,416 Okay. If you look at the research evidence -- 67 00:03:09,416 --> 00:03:14,079 that's extensive -- on how much early childhood programs 68 00:03:14,079 --> 00:03:18,676 affect the educational attainment, wages and skills 69 00:03:18,676 --> 00:03:22,185 of former participants in preschool as adults, 70 00:03:22,185 --> 00:03:24,821 you take those known effects, 71 00:03:24,821 --> 00:03:27,509 you take how many of those folks will be expected 72 00:03:27,509 --> 00:03:31,210 to stick around the state or local economy and not move out, 73 00:03:31,210 --> 00:03:35,030 and you take research on how much skills 74 00:03:35,030 --> 00:03:38,201 drive job creation, you will conclude, 75 00:03:38,201 --> 00:03:40,244 from these three separate lines of research, 76 00:03:40,244 --> 00:03:44,323 that for every dollar invested in early childhood programs, 77 00:03:44,323 --> 00:03:47,776 the per capita earnings of state residents 78 00:03:47,776 --> 00:03:50,542 go up by two dollars and 78 cents, 79 00:03:50,542 --> 00:03:52,409 so that's a three-to-one return. 80 00:03:52,409 --> 00:03:55,442 Now you can get much higher returns, 81 00:03:55,442 --> 00:03:59,516 of up to 16-to-one, if you include anti-crime benefits, 82 00:03:59,516 --> 00:04:04,230 if you include benefits to former preschool participants 83 00:04:04,230 --> 00:04:06,414 who move to some other state, 84 00:04:06,414 --> 00:04:09,425 but there's a good reason for focusing on these three dollars 85 00:04:09,425 --> 00:04:11,512 because this is salient and important 86 00:04:11,512 --> 00:04:13,802 to state legislators and state policy makers, 87 00:04:13,802 --> 00:04:15,946 and it's the states that are going to have to act. 88 00:04:15,946 --> 00:04:19,245 So there is this key benefit that is relevant 89 00:04:19,245 --> 00:04:22,494 to state policy makers in terms of economic development. 90 00:04:22,494 --> 00:04:25,912 Now, one objection you often hear, 91 00:04:25,912 --> 00:04:30,809 or maybe you don't hear it because people are too polite to say it, is, 92 00:04:30,809 --> 00:04:35,272 why should I pay more taxes 93 00:04:35,272 --> 00:04:39,550 to invest in other people's children? 94 00:04:39,550 --> 00:04:42,044 What's in it for me? 95 00:04:42,044 --> 00:04:44,323 And the trouble with that objection, 96 00:04:44,323 --> 00:04:48,325 it reflects a total misunderstanding 97 00:04:48,325 --> 00:04:51,342 of how much local economies 98 00:04:51,342 --> 00:04:54,848 involve everyone being interdependent. 99 00:04:54,848 --> 00:04:58,765 Specifically, the interdependency here is, is that 100 00:04:58,765 --> 00:05:02,298 there are huge spillovers of skills -- 101 00:05:02,298 --> 00:05:07,618 that when other people's children get more skills, 102 00:05:07,618 --> 00:05:11,387 that actually increases the prosperity of everyone, 103 00:05:11,387 --> 00:05:14,741 including people whose skills don't change. 104 00:05:14,741 --> 00:05:17,145 So for example, numerous research studies have shown 105 00:05:17,145 --> 00:05:19,724 if you look at what really drives 106 00:05:19,724 --> 00:05:22,188 the growth rate of metropolitan areas, 107 00:05:22,188 --> 00:05:27,858 it's not so much low taxes, low cost, low wages; 108 00:05:27,858 --> 00:05:31,481 it's the skills of the area. Particularly, the proxy for skills 109 00:05:31,481 --> 00:05:35,016 that people use is percentage of college graduates in the area. 110 00:05:35,016 --> 00:05:38,095 So when you look, for example, at metropolitan areas 111 00:05:38,095 --> 00:05:41,608 such as the Boston area, Minneapolis-St. Paul, 112 00:05:41,608 --> 00:05:46,944 Silicon Valley, these areas are not doing well economically 113 00:05:46,944 --> 00:05:49,253 because they're low-cost. 114 00:05:49,253 --> 00:05:51,178 I don't know if you ever tried to buy a house in Silicon Valley. 115 00:05:51,178 --> 00:05:53,995 It's not exactly a low-cost proposition. 116 00:05:53,995 --> 00:05:59,940 They are growing because they have high levels of skills. 117 00:05:59,940 --> 00:06:03,095 So when we invest in other people's children, 118 00:06:03,095 --> 00:06:07,280 and build up those skills, we increase the overall job growth 119 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:08,801 of a metro area. 120 00:06:08,801 --> 00:06:12,689 As another example, if we look 121 00:06:12,689 --> 00:06:15,924 at what determines an individual's wages, 122 00:06:15,924 --> 00:06:20,149 and we do statistical exploration of that, what determines wages, 123 00:06:20,149 --> 00:06:24,672 we know that the individual's wages will depend, in part, 124 00:06:24,672 --> 00:06:27,103 on that individual's education, 125 00:06:27,103 --> 00:06:30,096 for example whether or not they have a college degree. 126 00:06:30,096 --> 00:06:33,434 One of the very interesting facts is that, in addition, 127 00:06:33,434 --> 00:06:37,481 we find that even once we hold constant, statistically, 128 00:06:37,481 --> 00:06:40,385 the effect of your own education, 129 00:06:40,385 --> 00:06:43,585 the education of everyone else in your metropolitan area 130 00:06:43,585 --> 00:06:45,557 also affects your wages. 131 00:06:45,557 --> 00:06:49,761 So specifically, if you hold constant your education, 132 00:06:49,761 --> 00:06:53,864 you stick in percentage of college graduates in your metro area, 133 00:06:53,864 --> 00:06:57,824 you will find that has a significant positive effect on your wages 134 00:06:57,824 --> 00:07:01,294 without changing your education at all. 135 00:07:01,294 --> 00:07:04,445 In fact, this effect is so strong 136 00:07:04,445 --> 00:07:08,258 that when someone gets a college degree, 137 00:07:08,258 --> 00:07:10,699 the spillover effects of this on the wages 138 00:07:10,699 --> 00:07:12,592 of others in the metropolitan area 139 00:07:12,592 --> 00:07:15,694 are actually greater than the direct effects. 140 00:07:15,694 --> 00:07:19,147 So if someone gets a college degree, their lifetime earnings 141 00:07:19,147 --> 00:07:22,462 go up by a huge amount, over 700,000 dollars. 142 00:07:22,462 --> 00:07:24,977 There's an effect on everyone else in the metro area 143 00:07:24,977 --> 00:07:28,840 of driving up the percentage of college graduates in the metro area, 144 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,256 and if you add that up -- it's a small effect for each person, 145 00:07:32,256 --> 00:07:35,688 but if you add that up across all the people in the metro area, 146 00:07:35,688 --> 00:07:39,314 you actually get that the increase in wages for everyone else 147 00:07:39,314 --> 00:07:42,227 in the metropolitan area adds up to almost a million dollars. 148 00:07:42,227 --> 00:07:44,305 That's actually greater than the direct benefits 149 00:07:44,305 --> 00:07:47,359 of the person choosing to get education. 150 00:07:47,359 --> 00:07:48,718 Now, what's going on here? 151 00:07:48,718 --> 00:07:52,641 What can explain these huge spillover effects of education? 152 00:07:52,641 --> 00:07:54,115 Well, let's think about it this way. 153 00:07:54,115 --> 00:07:57,438 I can be the most skilled person in the world, 154 00:07:57,438 --> 00:08:01,239 but if everyone else at my firm lacks skills, 155 00:08:01,239 --> 00:08:04,208 my employer is going to find it more difficult 156 00:08:04,208 --> 00:08:08,264 to introduce new technology, new production techniques. 157 00:08:08,264 --> 00:08:11,866 So as a result, my employer is going to be less productive. 158 00:08:11,866 --> 00:08:15,467 They will not be able to afford to pay me as good wages. 159 00:08:15,467 --> 00:08:19,148 Even if everyone at my firm has good skills, 160 00:08:19,148 --> 00:08:22,656 if the workers at the suppliers to my firm 161 00:08:22,656 --> 00:08:24,626 do not have good skills, 162 00:08:24,626 --> 00:08:27,023 my firm is going to be less competitive 163 00:08:27,023 --> 00:08:29,408 competing in national and international markets. 164 00:08:29,408 --> 00:08:32,502 And again, the firm that's less competitive 165 00:08:32,502 --> 00:08:35,191 will not be able to pay as good wages, 166 00:08:35,191 --> 00:08:39,324 and then, particularly in high-tech businesses, 167 00:08:39,324 --> 00:08:42,585 they're constantly stealing ideas and workers from other businesses. 168 00:08:42,585 --> 00:08:45,805 So clearly the productivity of firms in Silicon Valley 169 00:08:45,805 --> 00:08:49,600 has a lot to do with the skills not only of the workers at their firm, 170 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:54,019 but the workers at all the other firms in the metro area. 171 00:08:54,019 --> 00:08:57,553 So as a result, if we can invest in other people's children 172 00:08:57,553 --> 00:08:59,955 through preschool and other early childhood programs 173 00:08:59,955 --> 00:09:03,611 that are high-quality, we not only help those children, 174 00:09:03,611 --> 00:09:07,232 we help everyone in the metropolitan area 175 00:09:07,232 --> 00:09:10,903 gain in wages and we'll have the metropolitan area 176 00:09:10,903 --> 00:09:12,925 gain in job growth. 177 00:09:12,925 --> 00:09:15,456 Another objection used sometimes here 178 00:09:15,456 --> 00:09:17,684 to invest in early childhood programs 179 00:09:17,684 --> 00:09:21,405 is concern about people moving out. 180 00:09:21,405 --> 00:09:25,640 So, you know, maybe Ohio's thinking about investing 181 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,884 in more preschool education 182 00:09:27,884 --> 00:09:31,694 for children in Columbus, Ohio, 183 00:09:31,694 --> 00:09:33,953 but they're worried that these little Buckeyes will, 184 00:09:33,953 --> 00:09:36,870 for some strange reason, decide to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, 185 00:09:36,870 --> 00:09:38,387 and become Wolverines. 186 00:09:38,387 --> 00:09:41,681 And maybe Michigan will be thinking about investing 187 00:09:41,681 --> 00:09:44,122 in preschool in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and be worried 188 00:09:44,122 --> 00:09:47,357 these little Wolverines will end up moving to Ohio and becoming Buckeyes. 189 00:09:47,357 --> 00:09:51,349 And so they'll both underinvest because everyone's going to move out. 190 00:09:51,349 --> 00:09:54,290 Well, the reality is, if you look at the data, 191 00:09:54,290 --> 00:09:58,503 Americans aren't as hyper-mobile as people sometimes assume. 192 00:09:58,503 --> 00:10:03,623 The data is that over 60 percent of Americans 193 00:10:03,623 --> 00:10:06,061 spend most of their working careers 194 00:10:06,061 --> 00:10:09,831 in the state they were born in, over 60 percent. 195 00:10:09,831 --> 00:10:13,926 That percentage does not vary much from state to state. 196 00:10:13,926 --> 00:10:17,030 It doesn't vary much with the state's economy, 197 00:10:17,030 --> 00:10:18,828 whether it's depressed or booming, 198 00:10:18,828 --> 00:10:21,149 it doesn't vary much over time. 199 00:10:21,149 --> 00:10:26,962 So the reality is, if you invest in kids, 200 00:10:26,962 --> 00:10:29,461 they will stay. 201 00:10:29,461 --> 00:10:32,499 Or at least, enough of them will stay 202 00:10:32,499 --> 00:10:35,920 that it will pay off for your state economy. 203 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,844 Okay, so to sum up, there is a lot of research evidence 204 00:10:39,844 --> 00:10:42,998 that early childhood programs, if run in a high-quality way, 205 00:10:42,998 --> 00:10:45,854 pay off in higher adult skills. 206 00:10:45,854 --> 00:10:47,421 There's a lot of research evidence 207 00:10:47,421 --> 00:10:51,045 that those folks will stick around the state economy, 208 00:10:51,045 --> 00:10:54,362 and there's a lot of evidence that having more workers 209 00:10:54,362 --> 00:10:56,452 with higher skills in your local economy 210 00:10:56,452 --> 00:11:00,131 pays off in higher wages and job growth for your local economy, 211 00:11:00,131 --> 00:11:03,574 and if you calculate the numbers for each dollar, 212 00:11:03,574 --> 00:11:06,303 we get about three dollars back 213 00:11:06,303 --> 00:11:08,478 in benefits for the state economy. 214 00:11:08,478 --> 00:11:12,090 So in my opinion, the research evidence is compelling 215 00:11:12,090 --> 00:11:14,914 and the logic of this is compelling. 216 00:11:14,914 --> 00:11:18,604 So what are the barriers to getting it done? 217 00:11:18,604 --> 00:11:21,868 Well, one obvious barrier is cost. 218 00:11:21,868 --> 00:11:26,198 So if you look at what it would cost 219 00:11:26,198 --> 00:11:29,025 if every state government invested 220 00:11:29,025 --> 00:11:33,230 in universal preschool at age four, full-day preschool at age four, 221 00:11:33,230 --> 00:11:36,645 the total annual national cost would be roughly 222 00:11:36,645 --> 00:11:38,950 30 billion dollars. 223 00:11:38,950 --> 00:11:41,375 So, 30 billion dollars is a lot of money. 224 00:11:41,375 --> 00:11:45,120 On the other hand, if you reflect on 225 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,980 that the U.S.'s population is over 300 million, 226 00:11:48,980 --> 00:11:51,663 we're talking about an amount of money 227 00:11:51,663 --> 00:11:54,283 that amounts to 100 dollars per capita. 228 00:11:54,283 --> 00:11:57,261 Okay? A hundred dollars per capita, per person, 229 00:11:57,261 --> 00:12:01,266 is something that any state government can afford to do. 230 00:12:01,266 --> 00:12:06,015 It's just a simple matter of political will to do it. 231 00:12:06,015 --> 00:12:07,895 And, of course, as I mentioned, 232 00:12:07,895 --> 00:12:10,049 this cost has corresponding benefits. 233 00:12:10,049 --> 00:12:12,225 I mentioned there's a multiplier of about three, 234 00:12:12,225 --> 00:12:14,325 2.78, for the state economy, 235 00:12:14,325 --> 00:12:17,354 in terms of over 80 billion in extra earnings. 236 00:12:17,354 --> 00:12:20,378 And if we want to translate that from just billions of dollars 237 00:12:20,378 --> 00:12:22,271 to something that might mean something, 238 00:12:22,271 --> 00:12:25,859 what we're talking about is that, for the average low-income kid, 239 00:12:25,859 --> 00:12:28,976 that would increase earnings by about 10 percent 240 00:12:28,976 --> 00:12:32,175 over their whole career, just doing the preschool, 241 00:12:32,175 --> 00:12:34,690 not improving K-12 or anything else after that, 242 00:12:34,690 --> 00:12:37,238 not doing anything with college tuition or access, 243 00:12:37,238 --> 00:12:39,934 just directly improving preschool, 244 00:12:39,934 --> 00:12:42,233 and we would get five percent higher earnings 245 00:12:42,233 --> 00:12:43,629 for middle-class kids. 246 00:12:43,629 --> 00:12:45,694 So this is an investment 247 00:12:45,694 --> 00:12:48,602 that pays off in very concrete terms 248 00:12:48,602 --> 00:12:53,022 for a broad range of income groups in the state's population 249 00:12:53,022 --> 00:12:57,532 and produces large and tangible benefits. 250 00:12:57,532 --> 00:13:00,086 Now, that's one barrier. 251 00:13:00,086 --> 00:13:03,508 I actually think the more profound barrier 252 00:13:03,508 --> 00:13:07,938 is the long-term nature of the benefits from early childhood programs. 253 00:13:07,938 --> 00:13:10,784 So the argument I'm making is, is that we're increasing 254 00:13:10,784 --> 00:13:12,539 the quality of our local workforce, 255 00:13:12,539 --> 00:13:15,205 and thereby increasing economic development. 256 00:13:15,205 --> 00:13:18,585 Obviously if we have a preschool with four-year-olds, 257 00:13:18,585 --> 00:13:20,953 we're not sending these kids out at age five 258 00:13:20,953 --> 00:13:24,468 to work in the sweatshops, right? At least I hope not. 259 00:13:24,468 --> 00:13:27,880 So we're talking about an investment 260 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,350 that in terms of impacts on the state economy 261 00:13:30,350 --> 00:13:34,311 is not going to really pay off for 15 or 20 years, 262 00:13:34,311 --> 00:13:37,169 and of course America is notorious for being 263 00:13:37,169 --> 00:13:40,176 a short term-oriented society. 264 00:13:40,176 --> 00:13:41,836 Now one response you can make to this, 265 00:13:41,836 --> 00:13:43,361 and I sometimes have done this in talks, 266 00:13:43,361 --> 00:13:46,438 is people can talk about, there are benefits for these programs 267 00:13:46,438 --> 00:13:50,085 in reducing special ed and remedial education costs, 268 00:13:50,085 --> 00:13:52,391 there are benefits, parents care about preschool, 269 00:13:52,391 --> 00:13:54,641 maybe we'll get some migration effects 270 00:13:54,641 --> 00:13:56,959 from parents seeking good preschool, 271 00:13:56,959 --> 00:13:58,606 and I think those are true, 272 00:13:58,606 --> 00:14:00,768 but in some sense they're missing the point. 273 00:14:00,768 --> 00:14:03,339 Ultimately, this is something 274 00:14:03,339 --> 00:14:07,264 we're investing in now for the future. 275 00:14:07,264 --> 00:14:11,213 And so what I want to leave you with is 276 00:14:11,213 --> 00:14:13,519 what I think is the ultimate question. 277 00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:16,353 I mean, I'm an economist, but this is ultimately 278 00:14:16,353 --> 00:14:21,898 not an economic question, it's a moral question: 279 00:14:21,898 --> 00:14:26,105 Are we willing, as Americans, 280 00:14:26,105 --> 00:14:29,555 are we as a society still capable 281 00:14:29,555 --> 00:14:34,339 of making the political choice to sacrifice now 282 00:14:34,339 --> 00:14:36,988 by paying more taxes 283 00:14:36,988 --> 00:14:42,193 in order to improve the long-term future 284 00:14:42,193 --> 00:14:45,610 of not only our kids, but our community? 285 00:14:45,610 --> 00:14:50,057 Are we still capable of that as a country? 286 00:14:50,057 --> 00:14:52,498 And that's something that each and every citizen 287 00:14:52,498 --> 00:14:55,041 and voter needs to ask themselves. 288 00:14:55,041 --> 00:14:57,986 Is that something that you are still invested in, 289 00:14:57,986 --> 00:15:00,720 that you still believe in the notion of investment? 290 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:02,119 That is the notion of investment. 291 00:15:02,119 --> 00:15:04,693 You sacrifice now for a return later. 292 00:15:04,693 --> 00:15:08,331 So I think the research evidence 293 00:15:08,331 --> 00:15:10,969 on the benefits of early childhood programs 294 00:15:10,969 --> 00:15:14,576 for the local economy is extremely strong. 295 00:15:14,576 --> 00:15:18,858 However, the moral and political choice 296 00:15:18,858 --> 00:15:23,962 is still up to us, as citizens and as voters. 297 00:15:23,962 --> 00:15:27,985 Thank you very much. (Applause)