The good of inefficient universities
Higher education is being assaulted across the country, not just here in Michigan. We have been – to our detriment – cutting higher education funding longer and more than others. But now there is a nationwide campaign to question the value of higher education and particularly to attack public higher education. One part of that […]
Taxes, economic growth and budget deficits
Another great New York Times Economix blog from Bruce Bartlett. Highly recommended! Bartlett, as you will recall, is one of the original supply side tax cutters. He served as senior staff to, among others, Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul. (By the way, his new book “The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform-Why We […]
Marriage, college attainment and inequality
When we started Michigan Future in 1991 we included in our initial presentations on the economy an observation that if you got a college degree (two year or four year) and if you raised your kids in a two parent household you were almost certainly going to be in the middle class. Turns out that […]
Making the case for research universities
Jim Duderstadt, President Emeritus of the University of Michigan, sent me the other day information on a report just released by the Committee on Research Universities of the National Research Council. Duderstadt is a member of the committee. The report and accompanying video are worth checking out. They can be found here. As you know, […]
Cities are in again
Amazing new data from the Census Bureau. 2011 is the first year in a century that central cities grew more than their suburbs. (See this MSNBC story for details.) Talk about a seismic change. Cities showing higher population gains compared to their suburbs last year include Atlanta, Denver, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Chicago, New […]
Ideology and reality of small town America
Gail Collins wrote a really insightful op ed on the divisions that characterizes American politics today. Entitled “Running on Empty” she argues that: “Our biggest political division is the war between the empty places and the crowded places.” Crowded places (think big metros) wanting government, empty places (think small town/rural America) wanting to get rid […]
The Lansing State Journal on talent attraction
The Lansing State Journal recently did a section on the importance of talent attraction and retention to the region’s economic success. Worth reading! I was one of the guest columinsts. You can find my column here. Other columns were authored by Dave Waymire, Doug Stites, CEO of the Capital Area Michigan Works!, and Lansing developer Pat […]