Egads! Michigan wants to be like Kansas
As we have explored previously (see here, here and here), Kansas tried and failed to grow their economy through big tax cuts. In fact what they got was the exact opposite, arguably the worst state economic performance since the end of the Great Recession. Despite the overwhelming evidence that cutting taxes doesn’t grow state economies, […]
When technology advanced, Michigan shifted from farms to factories. We must adapt again.
Amidst the flood of articles predicting how technology like automation and artificial intelligence will change our economy in the future, it’s helpful to have a solid understanding of how the economy works today. How have the technological advancements, increased productivity, and increases in wealth we’ve witnessed over the past half century altered the structure of […]
Time for Michigan’s corporate leaders to fight for 21st century education
As a former newspaper reporter, I reflexively cringe when I hear the words “sponsored content” connected to print media outlets. Often, “sponsored content” is essentially slightly- less-overt-than-typical advertising that vexes both journalists and readers alike because it is usually presented side-by-side with articles by professional news gatherers. Given my longtime aversion to sponsored content, I […]
Redesigning workforce development for the new economy
Last week my colleague Kim Trent wrote about the rapidity at which automation is changing the job market and the skills that employers are looking for. Hundreds of thousands of Michigan workers have reason to be concerned about whether the jobs they have now will exist in 20, ten, or even five years. For Michigan […]
The $10 million winning Grand Rapids high school
I recently had a chance to visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum School. Quite impressive. Clearly the folks at the XQ: The Super School Project thought so too. They chose the school as one of ten winners of $10 million. XQ’s mission is “to remake America’s high schools for today”. Both websites are worth exploring. […]
How to think about “Grit”
For the past several years, non-cognitive skills have been a dominant theme in education. While the concept has been around for some time, the current focus can be traced back to the book How Children Succeed, by Paul Tough. That book popularized the notion that a student’s long-term success was determined by a whole range […]
Time to get real about automation and the future of work
My colleagues and I have written extensively about the mounting evidence that a bachelor’s degree is an essential educational credential for job security in the 21st century workforce, but whenever we do I brace for caustic feedback from skeptics in the comments section. Our critics often point to the economic stability they enjoy because they […]
Essential Art: Part Three
One of the skills that the Becoming Brilliant authors Roberta Michnick and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek focus on as critical to future success is that of confidence. You may think of confidence as something innate—you’re born smart, or good-looking, or good at sports, and you develop confidence as a result. You might conflate it with conversations about […]
Automating mining and fast food jobs
Recent articles on automation in mining and fast foods reinforce that the new reality is that many jobs and occupations in a wide range of industries are likely to disappear sooner rather than later. The mining story comes from the MIT Technology Review. Its entitled This truck is the size of a house and doesn’t have […]
Chessboards and rice: A lesson for exponential growth
In the book The Second Machine Age, MIT professors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson document the way in which technology and automation are changing our economy. And one particularly effective way they do it is through a story about a chessboard, rice, and Gordon Moore. Gordon Moore is the cofounder of Intel and in the […]