Kent County’s welcoming to all plan
Michigan Future’s core work, since our founding nearly three decades ago, has been laying out how Michigan could once again be a high-prosperity state––a place with a broad middle class––in an economy being transformed by globalization and technology. The bottom line of our decades of research can be summarized in three words: talent attracts capital. […]
Imaging the post-pandemic big city
In two recent posts (here and here) we have explored why the demise of big cities due to the pandemic is unlikely to happen. That American history is full of predictions of the death of the city which have always been wrong. Why? First concentrated talent working face to face significantly boosts productivity. So employers––particularly […]
Google and our education caste system
Google, with much fanfare, recently announced “three new Google Career Certificates in the high-paying, high-growth career fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design. Like our IT Support and Automation in Python Certificates, these new career programs are designed and taught by Google employees who work in these fields.” They further announced […]
Lessons from Michigan’s Hot 50 jobs
Michigan’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives recently released their 2018-2028 employment projections by occupation and industry. Also released was their Michigan’s Hot 50 Job Outlook Through 2028. Which lists the 50 occupations over the next decade that most combine high demand and high wages. High wage in this case means an occupation […]
High-density, high-amenity neighborhoods are not going away
As we explored in my last post from the beginning of our republic there has been predictions of the coming demise of high-density big cities. All of them have been wrong. The same is almost certain to be the case of today’s post-pandemic predictions of doom for big cities. There are two main reasons why […]
High-density big cities are not going away
David Oshinsky in his book Bellevue quotes Thomas Jefferson’s reaction to the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, then the nation’s capitol: By November the streets were deserted, and more than 10 percent of the city’s fifty thousand residents were dead. Most of Congress was gone, along with President George Washington and Secretary of State […]
Inequality and four-year degree attainment
Four-year degree attainment is essential to eliminating income and racial inequality. As the chart below makes clear, those with a four-year degree or more work more and earn more. In a terrific analysis of four-year degree graduation rates by race Bridge documents how far Michigan has to go to eliminate the gap between Black and […]
Reforming capitalism: lessons from Denmark
Terrific Nicholas Kristof New York times column on Denmark. The article’s subtitle says it all: Danes haven’t built a “socialist” country. Just one that works. Similar to Finland, Denmark is a capitalist economy with widely shared prosperity. Each offers a model for how to realize the reformed capitalism that, as we have explored in previous […]
Needed: no red tape unemployment insurance
Terrific Bridge article on how hard it is for way to many out-of-work Michiganders to get unemployment insurance. The article’s title says it all: Michigan unemployment system designed to slow payments working all too well. Bridge writes: A big source of the problem, according to experts: The $52 million Michigan Integrated Data Automated System, known […]
B.A. holders value their education most
The Federal Reserve in its Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2019 measures well-being by education attainment. What they found is those with a B.A. or more value their education more than those with lower education attainment. Specifically they asked survey respondents who ever attended college “Overall, how would you say the […]