jobs and employment	277
economics	222
state and local government	211
education	199
indiana	195
economic development	183
law and public policy	166
budget and spending	165
taxes	164
united states of america	158

CBER Weekly Commentaries - 2011

January 3, 2011	Forecasting the YearAnyone who can build a model to predict the last recession, given what was known before it started, will become very rich.
January 10, 2011	What Is Economics?Describing the behavior of people, businesses and governments in equations is intensely abstract.
January 17, 2011	Gentle and Intemperate AngelsIt is reprehensible to blame killing on vitriolic political language – but that does not make the tenor of political debate useful or appropriate.
January 24, 2011	The Conundrum of EarmarksFully outlawing earmarks surrenders too much power to the executive branch.
January 31, 2011	Budget Realities and the State of the UnionThe best way to out-innovate the world in the short run is to simply get out of the way of entrepreneurs, innovators and producers.
February 7, 2011	Confusing Economic DataOver the long run, Wall Street’s stock brokers thirst for low unemployment, high rates of savings, high wages and productivity growth – just like Main Street.
February 14, 2011	Budget Cuts and WasteHigher budgets let public managers do more of what is good, while declining budgets offer the chance to do less of what is not good.
February 21, 2011	Unemployment and Economic GrowthThe problem is we now have 7 million people who businesses really don’t need.
February 28, 2011	Oil Prices and the Middle EastAnything that has a doubtful or long-term effect has a large and immediate influence on gas prices.
March 7, 2011	Telecom Reform in Indiana Worked. . . deregulation of monopolies tends to almost always make consumers better off. Indiana’s broad and effective telecommunications reform of 2006 is a classic example of this.
March 14, 2011	Entitlements, Veterans and Our FutureThe unsanctimonious truth in this matter and a thousand others like it across the country is that our governments—federal, state and local—have made promises they cannot keep.
March 21, 2011	Bipartisan Education ReformWe should immediately ban all post-season team sports for schools without at least a C average.
March 28, 2011	Debt and ChinaIt is the debt that threatens our national prosperity and security.
April 4, 2011	April Fool’s Legislative Round-upThe land of Governor Blago and the 75 percent income tax hike could hardly have been more poorly chosen to represent thoughtful progressive governance.
April 11, 2011	Right to Work LawsThe fastest and easiest way to bust unions is simply let them keep on exterminating themselves.
April 18, 2011	Incentives, Behavior and TaxesSo the question has long been how to intelligently balance the trade-off between more taxes and a smaller economy.
April 25, 2011	Profits and the Profit MotiveProfits and the motive for getting them are the most critical part of an economy.
May 2, 2011	An Insider’s Guide to Tax IncreasesWe can raise tax revenues, but it means an end of special deals for friends of Congress and no more demonizing the rich.
May 9, 2011	The Empirics of Mothers’ DayMotherhood isn’t limited to the act of giving birth….
May 16, 2011	Gas Prices AgainIt is fundamental economics that drives gas price changes, and that is far more worrisome than speculation.
May 23, 2011	A Dose of Economic TheoryMost economists who study recessions and publish their own research argue that something can potentially be done to ease the transition from recession to recovery.
May 31, 2011	A New Birth of FreedomThree times as many Hoosiers perished in the Civil War than the nation as a whole has lost to battle since Vietnam.
June 6, 2011	Education and New JobsThe hard truth is that all the jobs lost in the economy that will return already have.
June 13, 2011	The Island of Growth and Resurgent ProsperityWe Hoosiers are an economic anomaly, an Island of growth and resurgent prosperity.
June 20, 2011	The Economic Consequence of FatherhoodVirtually all families in long-term poverty – five years or more – are led by single parents.
June 27, 2011	Unemployment Compensation and the Incentive to WorkWhen you pay people not to work, the propensity to work declines.
July 4, 2011	Immigration and the Declaration of IndependenceThe Declaration of Independence has some key tenets that bear mentioning in these times.
July 11, 2011	Debt Limits and Budget CutsWithout real expenditure cuts, the cost of borrowing will rise, regardless of what happens to our debt ceiling.
July 18, 2011	Free Trade and the Campaign for Village IdiotAny contention that the U.S. economy has shrunk, wages dropped or manufacturing production declined following NAFTA are simply untrue.
July 25, 2011	The Debt Ceiling, Subsidies and the Pain of DefaultWe should end oil subsidies, but this would allow the U.S. to pay off its debt in only 371 more years (if we could stop interest payments).
August 1, 2011	Woody Guthrie, Ron Paul and the National DebtWhen a Libertarian and Socialist start agreeing about something, the rest of us ought to listen to them.
August 8, 2011	Some Cuts in the Budget DealWe need a long spell of more hiring before we tackle the supposed evils of wealth.
August 15, 2011	Downgrading Standard & Poor’sFor anyone who recalls its glowing ratings for mortgage backed securities, S&P research is hard to take seriously.
August 22, 2011	Vouchers and the LawThe real purpose of vouchers was to add incentives for public schools to improve.
August 29, 2011	High Taxes Are Not the ProblemIn the end, it is not the taxes, but the perceived value of the services they provide that falls short.
September 5, 2011	Urban Renewal, the Big Bang and Mayor BingThe Keystone Towers demolition does not mark decline, but rather recovery.
September 12, 2011	September 11th and Shared SacrificeHaving only a few of our citizens bear the direct burden of war is a luxury of the modern age.
September 19, 2011	The Efficacy of the American Jobs ActPresident Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act strikes as fair an attempt at stimulating the economy as is now possible. Whether or not it is good policy or will work is another question.
September 26, 2011	Defining and Understanding Poverty in AmericaWe need to structure a measure of poverty that assesses what each person consumes, not what they earn.
October 3, 2011	Listening to Long-Dead EconomistsIt is a bit too early to tell what this recession and recovery will do to the reputation of the many economists who prognosticated through it.
October 10, 2011	Competing Economic Theories Agree on DebtPoliticians on both the right and the left suggest that the large stimulus and enormous government spending deficits are in part to blame for the continued ill performance of the U.S. economy.
October 17, 2011	Maybe the Occupy Indianapolis Crowd Is on to SomethingIndiana’s public universities pay federal taxes, but GE does not.
October 24, 2011	Human Capital, Income Inequality and Our FutureMore than half of Americans compete with perhaps two billion men and women worldwide who are better educated and yet willing to work for far less.
October 31, 2011	Lessons in Macabre Taxes and Ghastly Fiscal PolicyIt is once again that time of year when children turn either ghoulish or cute (or both).
November 7, 2011	The Skinny on Community GrowthThe quality of the workforce matters more than anything else in the long haul of economic development.
November 14, 2011	Indiana Elections, 2011In taking an oath of office, one’s perspective changes—which is precisely why we demand these oaths of public officials.
November 21, 2011	Some Penn State Lessons, Economic and OtherwiseThis cover up isn’t the failure of an idea, but of men.
November 28, 2011	The Super Committee and our Long Term ChallengesAs I write this, I am unsure what the Deficit Super Committee will have done by their Thanksgiving deadline to stall the wayward flight of our national debt.
December 5, 2011	Black Fridays and ConsumptionHoliday consumption today is larger, both in absolute terms (we are much richer) and as a share of our total retail spending.
December 12, 2011	Monetary Policy for Our TimesThis week in Muncie, Dr. Evans amplified his proposal to accept the risk of higher inflation to potentially cure high unemployment.
December 19, 2011	Capitalism or Free Markets?The term capitalism fails most in describing the modern world in that it implies elitist economic interests.
December 26, 2011	Dear Santa: A Letter from an EconomistLast year you brought me coal, this year could you fill my pickup truck with gasoline instead?

Center for Business and Economic Research - Ball State University

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CBER Weekly Commentaries - 2011