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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.

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Commentaries tagged with schools k-12

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.
February 23, 2025 I Am Confused by Tax ProposalsIndiana, like almost every other government in the world, taxes three things: wealth, consumption and income.
February 16, 2025 The End of DEI and a Call to ActionHow can we ensure that everyone has equal access to schooling, health care and economic opportunity?
February 9, 2025 The Medicaid DilemmaFor every one new job created in Indiana since 2010, we’ve had more than two new people enroll in Medicaid.
February 2, 2025 The Great State of Illiana (or is it Indinois?)Deep economic divergence has gripped the United States for four decades.
January 5, 2025 School Choice Is a Good, Not Great Thing… Sort ofThe benefits are overestimated and misunderstood.
December 15, 2024 Indiana’s Commission on Higher Education Issues an Eye-Opening ReportOur current level of educational attainment and college attendance rates puts us squarely in the bottom 10 states and territories.
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.
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 15, 2024 IEDC’s Unhappy 20th AnniversaryIndiana must become a place where education and skills of people form the central mission of state and local economic development policies.
September 1, 2024 Urban Growth Dominates the US Economy – and Puts Rural Places at RiskEducation becomes more important as more people become educated.
August 11, 2024 Project 2025 Is a Roadmap to DisasterThe document is alarming enough that former President Trump denied knowledge of its existence.
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 30, 2024 Silly Tax Cut ProposalsIn Indiana, a 1 percent increase in the average tax rate leads to a 2 percent increase in population growth.
May 5, 2024 US Debt Will Change Local Economic Development PoliciesThere’s no tax cut that will generate rapid economic growth, nor is there some magical spending mix that will cause a big spike in productivity.
April 28, 2024 We Botched Our Last Curriculum Reform, We Cannot Do So This TimeA very good idea can become very bad public policy when executed poorly.
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.
April 7, 2024 What Caused the Midwest to Thrive? EducationIndiana was universally literate before England was.
March 17, 2024 Deep Ideological Chasm Behind SB202 Will RemainThe central fight over ideological bias on campus involves two competing visions of the world.
January 21, 2024 Small School Corporations Face Some Tough ChoicesStudent opportunities and outcomes increase and operational costs decrease when corporations approach optimal enrollment levels.
January 14, 2024 Thinking Hard About the IREAD TestAbout one in five Hoosier 3rd graders fail to pass the statewide reading test.
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.
October 8, 2023 Falling Behind Mississippi Indiana now sends 52.9 percent of high school graduates to college, while Mississippi sends 81 percent.
September 3, 2023 Work From Home Is Here to StayAt least 1 million Hoosiers work from home at least one day per week.
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 18, 2023 New Labor Market Data Is Eye Opening But Under UsedThere’s been more data created on labor and education in the past 25 years than in the preceding 25 centuries.
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.
June 4, 2023 Increasing Importance of Summer JobsThese jobs offer an opportunity to learn as well as earn money.
May 28, 2023 Educational Attainment, the 21st Century Fund and the Future of SchoolingIndiana ranks 42nd in educational attainment.
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 19, 2023 Remote Work Through the Eyes of Three 20-SomethingsRemote work is here to stay.
January 22, 2023 Some Labor Market Facts You Won’t Read ElsewhereIndiana is simply not producing a 21st century workforce.
January 15, 2023 Three Types of Public DebtAll types of public debt are effectively transfers of wealth from the future to our present selves.
December 11, 2022 READI Grant Is Great for Most of IndianaBusinesses and households value public services more highly than public infrastructure spending.
December 4, 2022 Inflation Will Make the Legislature’s Job Difficult This YearThe budget challenges faced by state legislatures are twofold.
November 27, 2022 Economic Optimism and Worry on ThanksgivingThe balance of power between freedom and tyranny has never been this favorable.
November 13, 2022 The Timing of Economic PolicyCentral planning of economic activity likely will result in wasteful, ineffective policies.
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.
September 11, 2022 Benefits and Costs of EducationFor the vast majority of students, college is among the best financial investments they will ever make.
August 7, 2022 It Is Time to Face the Facts About Factory JobsThe education and skills of today’s displaced factory workers don’t match the many available jobs nationwide.
July 17, 2022 My 750th ColumnColumns like mine are designed to help people think about issues they might otherwise not read about.
May 1, 2022 Lilly CEO Speaks to Indiana’s FutureIndiana must better educate a higher share of its young adults and make more communities into places they’d like to live.
March 27, 2022 A Tough Two Decades for the Hoosier EconomyMost of Indiana’s job growth this century has been in low-wage work.
February 6, 2022 Some Surprising Lessons from COVID Learning LossThe median school saw pass rates on standardized tests drop by more than 10 percent.
January 23, 2022 Indiana’s Long-Term Economic Prospects Are PoorState policymakers should be deeply alarmed about a return to a ‘normal’ economy.
June 27, 2021 School Choice, Cost Savings and Educational SpendingIndiana adopted universal school choice a little more than a decade ago.
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.
February 28, 2021 Teacher Pay Is the Symptom of Deeper ProblemsState spending per Hoosier student is down more than 7.0 percent since 2010.
October 25, 2020 Indiana’s Hidden Fiscal DeficitSince 2009, Indiana slipped in every key measure of long-term growth.
July 19, 2020 School Re-opening Decision Is Tough, Politicizing Masks Makes It HarderIndiana has about 1.1 million kids in grades K-12, and many have little-to-no high-speed internet access.
July 12, 2020 Assault on Prosperity ContinuesThe U.S. economic loss of foreign college students would be enormous.
February 9, 2020 Back to Basics in Education, and Away from Vocational IndoctrinationThe only skill that we are certain will be needed by today’s kids in 20 years is the ability to learn and master new skills.
November 25, 2019 Time for an Education Tax IncreaseNothing predicts the income of a region better than the average education of its citizens.
July 14, 2019 Economic Research Points the Way for Different Education PolicyThis column is part of my effort to draw out two or three critical lessons from the last two or three decades and tie them to state policies.
June 23, 2019 Low Cost of Living Probably Means Low-Valued CommunityThe value of two identical homes will vary by as much as 25 percent given the quality of the local schools.
June 16, 2019 My Talk to School SuperintendentsFuture job skills are likely to demand more fundamental learning.
April 14, 2019 We Need to Send 10,000 More Hoosier Kids to College Next YearIf only 20 percent of the gains of higher education are due to actual learning or acquired skills, it may still be the best investment our state and local governments can make.
March 3, 2019 Some Unpleasant News on Education Spending PrioritiesThe State of Indiana funds K-12 education, and school boards pay teachers.
August 5, 2018 Midwest Must Save Middle Class NeighborhoodsIf your community isn’t thriving, your problems are far deeper than you suppose.
May 20, 2018 School Referenda and Local GovernmentRecent examples reinforce the simple notions of local governance.
March 25, 2018 Schools Need Bolder ActionEvery extra dollar must be spent on educating Muncie’s children and restoring confidence in the future.
February 26, 2018 School Choice Saves CommunitiesAll school choice did was let students flee underperforming schools without forcing families to move.
January 28, 2018 HB 1315 Is a Pragmatic Fix to Muncie School DilemmaThis school corporation needs a restoration of confidence before it can achieve any real stability.
August 13, 2017 A Case Study in School Performance and EnrollmentThere is stunning correlation between school performance and enrollment changes.

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