Shared prosperity books to read
In my last post I recommended three books and a video on education and placemaking. In this post we look at three books worth reading on shared prosperity. Education, placemaking and shared prosperity being the three state policy levers we identified in our new agenda that matter most to achieving the goal of rising household […]
Worth reading and watching
I keep intending to do a post on what I am reading. But there turns out to be too much interesting to write about and I never get around to it. There are three books I have read recently that I highly recommend. And one YouTube video to watch. Two books on education, one on […]
Tax cuts not the answer to the Great Decoupling
In our first ever state policy agenda we identify dealing with the Great Decoupling as the preeminent economic challenge of our times. Figuring out how everyone benefits from a growing economy, rather than just those at the top. In the report we make the case that cutting taxes is not the way to combat the […]
Our shared prosperity state policy recommendations
As we explored in my last post Michigan structurally has too many low-paid jobs. About half of Michigan jobs pay less than $15 an hour. Add to that lots of part-time jobs and more and more contingent jobs. That leads to the Michigan Association of United Way’s ALICE report results that 40 percent of Michigan households […]
Too much low-paid work
A recent Washington Post article was entitled Half the jobs in America pay less than $18 an hour. Can Trump help? The consequence of way too many lower paid jobs––as well as too many working in part-time jobs––is you get lots of working American households who cannot afford to pay the bills, save for their retirement and […]
Liberal arts lead to good-paying careers
George Anders new book, You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Education, is worth reading. The book tells the story of how liberal arts majors––no matter what the conventional wisdom––are putting together successful forty-year careers. Anders mainly explores the path of well-paid, highly-successful liberal arts majors most working for technology-based […]
Not all kids are being pushed to get a four-year degree
Conventional wisdom is that one of the main culprits in the so-called skill shortage is that all Michigan kids are being pushed to get a four-year degree. I am quite skeptical that that is accurate. (See this New York Times article about college counseling at a Topeka, Kansas high school for what is a far […]
Employers can fix labor shortages
Terrific Dustin Walsh column in Crain’s Detroit Business entitled Businesses have key to labor shortage — higher wages. This is a position we have laid out many times before (see here) that markets solve supply and demand imbalances through price. In the case of labor markets price is wages and benefits. If there is more demand than […]
Schools moving away from standardized tests and online learning
Summit charter schools in California and Washington state are often included on the list of charter networks that are getting big urban student achievement gains. A common characteristic of these networks is their commitment that their students will graduate from college. Another increasingly common characteristic is because they are committed to college success––not just […]
Low unemployment doesn’t mean a prosperous Michigan
The most important recommendation in our new state policy agenda is that we change the mission of state economic policy to a rising household income for all. A Michigan with a broad middle class where wages and benefits allows one to pay the bills, save for retirement and the kids’ education and pass on […]