How does Massachusetts stack up in the economic battle among states? A new benchmark offers an in-depth look.

?? Welcome to Trendlines. The secret word is "TV12."

I'm Boston Globe financial columnist Larry Edelman , and today I've got an exclusive on a new index that shows how Massachusetts stacks up competitively against other states.

Plus: Diamonds aren't always forever.

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A competitive report card

?? A leading business group on Monday unveiled the Massachusetts Competitive Index, a new gauge of the state’s economic strengths and weaknesses designed to show how we compare against the rest of the country, especially the states luring away jobs and residents.

• The index is composed of 26 metrics in four categories: economic health; population and labor force; business, employment, and investment; and resident life.

• It ranks Massachusetts against all states and a group of “key competitor states,” defined as those outside of New England that gained the most jobs at our expense in 2022. The Fearsome Five (my moniker, not the MTF’s) are California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.

?? Highlights

Here’s where Massachusetts shines in the index.

?? Lowlights

Here are the areas where the state lags its competitors by a lot.

? Why it matters

National trends are moving against Massachusetts.

• “Mobility of talent and investment, combined with an aging population, pose new and emerging threats to Massachusetts’ competitiveness,” the report said, noting that Massachusetts ranked 45th in the nation for highest net domestic outmigration and recorded the third-largest labor force decline since 2018.

? To be sure

There’s nothing new about corporate leaders sounding the alarm about the high cost of doing business in Massachusetts.

But voter approval in 2022 of the “millionaires tax” — a 4 percent surcharge on annual incomes above $1 million — was a tipping point. The chorus of complaints has grown more vociferous while frustration with lawmakers’ failure to pass some key legislation has mounted.

• “Until we get agreement on costs being the problem, we can’t move forward,” said Jay Ash, chief executive of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, whose members run some of the biggest companies in the state.

?? Final thought

Despite its shortcomings, the Massachusetts economy is still the envy of most states.

But it’s dangerous to assume that the state’s past achievements will continue in the years ahead. Post pandemic, workers have become more mobile. We won’t thrive if residents flee to other states in search of a more affordable cost of living.

That’s why the MTF index is important. We need to measure what we want to improve.

?? Trending

Health care: Neglect led to indignity and death at Steward hospitals, according to a Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigation.

Tech: Apple is betting its new iPhone will catapult the tech trendsetter into the age of AI.

Education: Parents in Brookline, Cambridge, and Newton are increasingly sending their children to private schools.

?? The Closer

This would make a great country song.

Bruce Johnson called off his engagement to Caroline Settino when he thought she was fooling around with another man. (She denied it.) Then he sued to get the $70,000 Tiffany engagement ring back, and the case is now before the state Supreme Judicial Court.

The Globe's Dan Glaun explains:

Engagement rings are treated differently than other gifts in Massachusetts, under the precedent of DeCicco v. Barker. . . . Under DeCicco, the giver of the ring is entitled to have it returned if the engagement is “terminated without the fault of the donor.”

A judge in Plymouth Superior Court sided with Settino, finding there was no affair and that Johnson was at fault for calling off the engagement. An appeals court reversed that decision last year, ruling that Johnson might have been justified even if he was mistaken about Settino’s alleged infidelity.

Settino is asking the SJC not just to restore the trial court’s ruling, but to overhaul the state’s approach to engagement ring disputes.

The court? heard arguments in the case on Sept. 6 and there is no set date for its decision.

Thanks for reading. I will be back on Thursday.

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