A liberal arts degree leads to a good-paying career
We are constantly besieged with messaging that a liberal arts degree is useless. Maybe even worse than useless: a path to being a pauper or something close. Stuck in low-paying work that leaves you unable to pay off the loans and earn enough to buy a house and raise a family. Think again! In a […]
Young professionals concentrating in big cities
More than a decade ago we identified four common characteristics of high-prosperity non-energy-driven states: Over concentrated in knowledge-based services which are the sectors of the economy both growing and high wage High proportion of adults with a four-year degree or more Even higher college attainment in the state’s big metro(s) In those big metros a […]
The myth of six-figure welders
We first wrote about welders in 2013. Its a topic we keep coming back to, most recently in a 2018 post entitled What skilled trades job actually pay. The reason why we keep writing about welders is they have become Exhibit One for the case why others’ kids don’t need to get a four-year degree […]
College entrance exams and college admission
Paul Tough’s excellent new book The Years That Matter Most explores how college entrance exams––SAT and ACT––impact who gets admitted to college. He does it by comparing the impact of college entrance exams on both admissions and college success to high school GPA. The bottom line is that college entrance exams advantage male, affluent, white […]
Talent attracts capital
In preparing presentations about our placemaking recommendations what has struck me is that the key message can be summed up in three words: talent attracts capital. Where talent means primarily those with a four-year degree or more. What the most prosperous non-energy-driven states and regions have most in common is a high proportion of their […]
Neighborhoods without gentrification
In a recent post we made the case for why gentrification is a good. Something that all Michigan cities should want more of. In this post I want to explore what happens to neighborhoods without gentrification. I finished the previous post with: “Neighborhoods with high demand are vibrant, neighborhoods with low or no demand are […]
The increasing value of a four-year degree
We constantly hear that the value of a four-year degree is declining. Somehow conventional wisdom has it that since the end of the Great Recession college graduates are not enjoying the wage premium over those with less education than previous generations. Makes an interesting story. But it is not true! The data are clear: the […]
A capitalist advocating for higher wages
Important New York Times op ed by Allstate CEO Tom Wilson entitled Save capitalism by paying people more. What makes this so important is the explicit call from a big company CEO that corporate America needs to pay higher wages. The need for higher wages and benefits is the core of the Michigan Future new […]
Michigan cities need more gentrification
For years I have said that the city of Detroit needs more gentrification and congestion. As most of you would expect, the push-back is immediate and intense. Most folks think of the negative consequences of both and instinctively recoil at having more of the negatives. What people don’t think about is that for both gentrification […]
Moving away from standardized testing
As readers of this bog know we believe Michigan needs to move away from standardized testing. Anytime we make that case, the first question we get is “what is the alternative?” In a column for Bloomberg entitled Testing Craze Is Fading in U.S. Schools. Good. Here’s What’s Next. Andrea Gabor tackles just that question. Before […]