Raising our standard of living
Michigan Future’s work started with the question “where do we want to go from here?” Our answer: a high-prosperity Michigan – a place with a per capita income consistently above the national average in both national economic expansions and contractions. A Michigan once again with a broad middle class. At the core of our work […]
Previews of our new report
Two recent articles preview our upcoming annual progress report on Michigan’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. This is will be the fifth of these reports that Don Grimes and I have done on how well Michigan is doing compared to the country in terms of employment and particularly personal income. And which states are doing […]
The irrelevance of tax rankings again
In a March 2011 I wrote a post about how the Tax Foundation’s rankings compare to state economic well being. I did something similar in a column for Dome in 2009. Both presented data that doing well in business climate rankings have little or nothing to do with how well a state’s economy is performing. […]
Michigan’s demographic challenge
We close our presentations with “either Michigan gets younger and better educated or we will get poorer”. Both matter and for both the trends are not good. Many of these posts are about the necessity of getting better educated. Michigan is 34th in the proportion of adults with a four year degree. In an increasingly […]
Education and inequality
We have written frequently on the correlation between college attainment and both income and employment. It is now the best predictor of both. (See data in this previous post.) Education attainment is also a––if not the–major cause of rising income inequality. College attainment is by far the best pathway out of poverty and to the […]
An anti-poverty agenda
Paul Tough concludes his must read new book, How Children Succeed, with ideas on how American can far better deal with poverty. He starts with a belief that the best of the urban reform schools across the country (KIPP and others), although they have made a real difference in the lives of low income, largely […]
Taxes and economic growth
Like most of America, Michigan’s chief economic growth strategy for at least two decades has been cutting taxes. As you know, our research has indicated that what a state and its local governments tax and how much has little or no predictive value in explaining whether a state or its regions are prosperous or not. […]
Germany as a model
Governor Snyder and others have suggested Germany as a model for what they would like the Michigan economy to be. Largely a place that makes products that are in demand across the planet. A Michigan that once again is a global manufacturing force. Germany has a strong and prosperous economy. Although it has lost about the […]