Center for Business and Economic Research - Ball State University


CBER Data Center
Projects and PublicationsEconomic IndicatorsWeekly CommentaryCommunity Asset InventoryManufacturing Scorecard

About

Commentaries are published weekly and distributed through the Indianapolis Business Journal and many other print and online publications. Disclaimer

RSS Feed

Disclaimer

The views expressed in these commentaries do not reflect those of Ball State University or the Center for Business and Economic Research.

Recent

Two Key Economic Lessons in One BillHoosiers face trade-offs and opportunity costs in the wake of SEA1.

Time to Fix Economic Development PolicyAllocating tax dollars to land development won’t cause economic growth.

The Unanticipated Effects of SB1Businesses, governments and households may all feel the effects.

The Stupidest of PoliciesThis whipsawing of tariff rates has unnerved financial markets, which on Wednesday, were toying with a liquidity crisis.

View archives

Top Tags

jobs and employment 261
economics 201
state and local government 188
education 186
economic development 171
indiana 171
budget and spending 145
taxes 144
law and public policy 142
workforce and human capital 139
Browse all tags
Reporter / Admin Login

Commentaries tagged with community

April 27, 2025 Time to Fix Economic Development PolicyAllocating tax dollars to land development won’t cause economic growth.
April 20, 2025 The Unanticipated Effects of SB1Businesses, governments and households may all feel the effects.
March 30, 2025 The Birth and Death of Rustbelt CitiesEducational attainment is the fundamental factor leading to city growth or decline.
March 23, 2025 What the Census Tells Hoosiers About the FutureKeeping things the same really isn’t an option for communities.
March 9, 2025 A 1960s Rural Development PlanFarming and manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, even as we hit new production records.
March 2, 2025 What Is Government Inefficiency?Different levels of government concern themselves with different problems.
December 8, 2024 Sorting and Policy DivergenceWithout room for state-level differences in what it meant to be a Republican or Democrat, states began to align with national politics.
November 24, 2024 Thanksgiving 2024For Americans, particularly poorer Americans, the current economy has never been stronger.
November 3, 2024 My Apology to LogansportThe city is well known as an immigration success story in the Midwest.
October 20, 2024 Lessons in Home PricesIndiana’s dominant housing problem is a surplus of homes that are unlikely to ever again be occupied.
October 13, 2024 Worsening Brain DrainThe declining educational spending at state universities should be of big interest to elected officials in all the towns around public universities.
September 22, 2024 Indiana’s Small Towns Need More ImmigrantsMany Midwestern counties are in their fourth or fifth decade of population decline.
September 1, 2024 Urban Growth Dominates the US Economy – and Puts Rural Places at RiskEducation becomes more important as more people become educated.
July 21, 2024 Why Don’t We Learn from Economic Development Failures?Educational attainment alone is now a more powerful predictor of a region’s economic success than everything else combined.
June 23, 2024 Some Good Reasons for Partisan Perceptions About the EconomyThe gap between rich places and poor places is growing in more ways than one.
June 2, 2024 Regional Cities Initiative, an Economic BoonBehind the concept was a clear understanding that most economic growth was happening in cities with solid quality-of-life investments.
April 14, 2024 The Midwest Is Struggling in the Post-COVID WorldWe are chasing past economic glories rather than pursuing economic opportunities of the future.
March 24, 2024 The Lasting Effect of the KKK in IndianaIndiana had the highest share of residents in the Klan at any time in history.
March 3, 2024 Indiana Needs More Municipal FlexibilityCities aren’t just critical to Indiana’s economy, they are the future of Indiana’s economy.
January 7, 2024 What Does New GDP Data Tell Us About the Hoosier Economy?More than half of all the state’s new residents since 2020 live in one of two counties.
November 5, 2023 Municipal Elections Are Critical to Your ProsperityIn Indiana’s cities, like most cities nationwide, the problems mayors face aren’t partisan issues.
October 22, 2023 Economic Perceptions Driven by Educational and Geographic Differences in ProsperityThe geography of economic opportunity is shrinking.
September 3, 2023 Work From Home Is Here to StayAt least 1 million Hoosiers work from home at least one day per week.
August 13, 2023 A More Thoughtful Understanding of Quality of LifeRunning through a hypothetical list of amenities is the worst way to think about improving quality of life.
July 30, 2023 The Midwest Doesn’t Have a Housing Crisis, It Has a Neighborhood CrisisIn many areas, a new home cannot sell for the cost of construction.
July 9, 2023 Human Capital Is the Source of ProsperitySuccessful places are both good for business and good for families.
June 25, 2023 Growing and Declining Places Have Different ChallengesThe Midwest came of age at a time when natural amenities and recreational opportunities played only a modest role in prosperity or migration.
June 11, 2023 “Of Boys and Men” by Richard Reeves Is a Must ReadThe gender gap in education is larger than any racial or ethnic gap.
May 14, 2023 Re-Thinking Economic Development A large share of the most mobile families—perhaps half—no longer need to live near where they work.
April 23, 2023 Economic Opportunity Is Now in High Quality of Life PlacesAs Americans grew richer, we began to value more than just economic opportunity in our location choices.
April 2, 2023 The Five Skills Employers Tell Me They NeedI’ve asked countless numbers of leaders in business, government, military, and organizations.
March 12, 2023 Remote Work and Labor MarketsThere are more remote workers today than there are immigrants in the U.S.
March 5, 2023 The Amish in IndianaIt is hard not to draw similarities between the Amish and newer immigrant groups.
February 26, 2023 Subsidizing Builders Fixes the Wrong Housing ProblemRemote workers and their families can now live wherever they wish.
December 11, 2022 READI Grant Is Great for Most of IndianaBusinesses and households value public services more highly than public infrastructure spending.
October 9, 2022 A Recession Is Time to Think About the Long TermManufacturing employment is now a smaller part of our economy than it was in previous downturns.
March 20, 2022 Quality of Life Spending Is a Conservative PolicyHome prices and wages signal the desirability of communities.
January 16, 2022 Americans Are Quietly Realizing Dr. King’s VisionMLK’s words are part of the canon of American political writing, and belong to a long tradition of Enlightenment thought.
November 28, 2021 A Time to Give ThanksIf Mr. Lincoln could find reason to call us together for a day of gratitude, we can now have no cause to do otherwise.
November 21, 2021 Tax Debate Should Be About Value of Government Services, Not PriceOver the past two decades, Indiana cut business taxes and saw agonizingly slow economic growth.
September 12, 2021 Lessons from Afghan Refugees and September 11Our fight against the extremists who attacked us 20 years ago is ongoing.
July 11, 2021 What Is ‘Quality of Place?’When choosing a place to live, workers consider the wages they will earn against the cost of housing and access to amenities.
June 20, 2021 Looking Back at a Century of Father’s DaysThe lives of our fathers and their fathers are representative of the early and mid-20th century.
June 13, 2021 Some Early Census Results for IndianaPeople are the driving force of economic growth.
April 25, 2021 Polarization of Jobs and PlacesUnfortunately, short-term spending policies aren't likely have much long-term effect on the decline of middle-wage jobs.
April 18, 2021 The Post-COVID World Favors High Quality-of-Place CommunitiesBetween 23 million and 35 million households will find themselves newly unencumbered by the need to live within an easy daily commute to work.
April 11, 2021 Economic Development Should Be About Value, Not CostIn the late 1970s–80s, you were taught that low tax rates and capital investment were the key to growth and prosperity, but that theory has not panned out as anticipated.
October 18, 2020 Honest Self-Assessment Key to Future Growth If community leaders are focused on the short term, there is a natural tendency to ignore long term problems.
February 23, 2020 Returning to Economic Growth Requires PatienceThere are no quick solutions, only long ones.
October 13, 2019 What Can Economic Development Research Do for Your Community?Nearly 70 million Americans live in counties that are losing population.
January 27, 2019 Local Newspapers Are Key in Reporting CorruptionResearch suggests that newspaper closures lead to higher costs of local government borrowing.
December 23, 2018 Thinking About Economic Growth Like an EconomistEconomists and businesses think about community growth in very different ways.
March 11, 2018 Rustbelt Cities Must Focus on Middle Class NeighborhoodsSchool quality is always the most pressing issue for middle class neighborhoods, but other amenities matter. The cost of improving amenities in communities that are likely to survive for several decades is very small.
May 28, 2017 Public Corruption through the Prism of Memorial DaySome serve their country nobly, and some do not.
February 12, 2017 Bad Ideas Have Real CostsInstead of focusing on local food, focus on local schools and neighborhoods.
July 17, 2016 The Lessons of Pokémon GoThe game’s value lies in the economic, social, and health impacts.
July 10, 2016 Indiana’s Economy: Better than expected, worse than it should beIndiana outperforms the nation in most every metric except education.
April 3, 2016 Population Numbers Offer Warning to Indiana We should shift our focus from rural to urban communities.
December 13, 2015 The Regional Cities Initiative Marks a Critical Change for IndianaThese regional economic development plans are built on priority lists drawn from the expressed interests of voters.
November 1, 2015 Mayor’s Election All About Primacy of PlaceModern economic development policies have been in the spotlight thanks to municipal election debates.
June 21, 2015 Watch Economic Development SpendingBusinesses must locate where their customers are, not where economic developers lure them.
May 31, 2015 Thinking Warmly about Public PoolsCommunity pools serve as a ‘public good’ for the surrounding area.
April 19, 2015 Indiana Desperately Needs the Regional Cities InitiativeEighty of our 92 counties are suffering from a serious decline in population and economic growth.
February 23, 2014 Assortive Making, Social Mobility and Income InequalityA century ago, most Americans married young and locally, with education playing a much smaller role.
December 22, 2013 An Economic Model for the HolidaysRegional growth is a gift that keeps on giving through high-quality places to live.
November 24, 2013 Let’s Have a Debate on Gay Marriage in Our Homes The discussion of what makes a good marriage should happen in our homes, not in the Statehouse.
November 17, 2013 QE3 and the Labor MarketThe sign of a truly positive jobs report would be the decline of stock prices in anticipation of the end of QE3.
November 10, 2013 Veterans and Society in the Years to ComeRecent veterans comprise just over 1 percent of the population but will leave a lasting mark on business and society.
September 8, 2013 Income, Amenities and Affordable HousingPerceived value of employment and quality of school districts are two factors affecting personal income in our communities.
September 30, 2012 Immigration and Hope in the MidwestIt is markets, not urban theorists, who set value.
July 5, 2010 4th of July OptimismIn truly free societies, it is the dogged optimism of small scale economic actors that propels growth.
May 24, 2010 What Community Foundations DoA good community foundation is the best life guard a community has.
January 11, 2010 Civic Perceptions and Economic DevelopmentMany people feel perceptions of their city matters.
June 27, 2003 No Community Left Behind "In the last decade and a half, jobs in production-related occupations have not only failed to keep up with hiring in the rest of the economy, in most lines of work they’ve actually shrunk in number."
March 9, 2001 Are Communities Shortchanged by Development? "Questions concerning development have been the bread and butter of local politics for countless years."

© Center for Business and Economic Research, Ball State University

About Ball State CBER Data Center

Ball State CBER Data Center is one-stop shop for economic data including demographics, education, health, and social capital. Our easy-to-use, visual web tools offer data collection and analysis for grant writers, economic developers, policy makers, and the general public.

Ball State CBER Data Center (cberdata.org) is a product of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University. CBER's mission is to conduct relevant and timely public policy research on a wide range of economic issues affecting the state and nation. Learn more.

Terms of Service

Center for Business and Economic Research

Ball State University • Whitinger Business Building, room 149
2000 W. University Ave.
Muncie, IN 47306-0360
Phone:
765-285-5926
Email:
cber@bsu.edu
Website:
www.bsu.edu/cber
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/BallStateCBER
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/BallStateCBER
Close