The report follows earlier studies of the flows of residents in and out of New Jersey, and what they mean for the state economy. Business groups cite them as evidence that the state is over-regulating and over-taxing businesses and residents.
Rutgers University economists James Hughes and Joseph Seneca in 2007 said the state had lost about $7.9 billion in adjusted gross income in the six years to 2005, due to more people leaving the state than moving in. The report, although it offered some conclusions on why they departures were happening, acknowledged that it couldn’t identify the “definitive, systematic” causes because comprehensive data on that was not available.