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Curing The Boston Brain Drain

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The east tower of Northeastern University's International Village, its newest residence hall. (Charles Connell/Flickr)
The east tower of Northeastern University's newest residence hall, the International Village. (Charles Connell/Flickr)

Here's a list of three problems we have in the Boston area:

Massachusetts retains only about 60 percent of its college graduates. In other words, we have a brain drain problem.

Student housing is in short supply in much of the city, which forces many students into off-campus rentals, where they're notorious for drinking, partying and trashing what might otherwise be lovely neighborhoods. In other words, we have a neighborhood problem.

The Filene's hole is still gaping in the middle of Downtown Crossing, and the once-bustling commercial heart of Boston is sputtering. So we have a downtown problem, too.

These three problems might not sound particularly related. But Barry Bluestone, a housing economist at Northeastern University, thinks he can help solve all three in one fell swoop.

Guest:

This program aired on December 6, 2010.

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