Where Job Growth is Occurring
Included in some new work by my friends, UM economists George Fulton and Don Grimes, is an analysis of job growth in America from 2001-2008. They use the same framework we do by dividing the economy into high education attainment industries (those where thirty percent or more of the employees have a four-year degree or […]
Why Young Talent?
There are many who question why it is that folks like us place such a high priority on retaining and attracting recent college graduates. Why pick one demographic group over the others? Aren’t they all important? No one asked that question for the past century when we paid special attention to high paid factory workers. […]
Transforming High Schools
Nationally there are few high performing, open enrollment, urban high schools. We clearly need a new approach. Michigan Future has been working on the issue for nearly a decade. Here is how we think about what matters in creating high quality high schools. Its at the core of our new accelerator strategy. Its drawn from […]
State Budget Part II
I had a chance a few weeks ago to lay out for the State Board of Education how I would deal with the state’s long term structural budget deficit. Here is the agenda I presented: 1. Restructuring the Michigan tax system so that it produces adequate revenue now and, most importantly, grows with the Michigan […]
A Budget to Grow the Michigan Economy
Balancing the state’s budget in an era of substantial, structural revenue decline is difficult. The bottom line, is getting poorer is hard. You have to give up a lot that we have enjoyed for years. But when you go from eighteenth in per capita income to thirty seventh (and going lower) in eight years, there […]
Duderstadt in Crain’s
Read this! Its Jim Duderstadt”s (the former U of M President) recent interview in Crain’s Detroit Business. Its terrific. As always Jim is direct, no holding back. Boy do we need more of that here! His basic message: the knowledge-based economy is the only path back to economic success in Michigan. We need to give […]
Foundations Leading
Nice feature in Dome Magazine on the role Michigan foundations are playing in k-12 reform. In a period of big cutbacks in public funding, philanthropy has become the most significant catalyst for innovation. Too many school districts and charter schools have responded to the pressures of less resources and higher student achievement standards by going […]
Troubling ACT News
The folks who run the ACT college entrance exam have just released a troubling report on how well prepared America’s high school students are for college. Their estimate is that twenty three percent of the high school students who took the ACT last year are likely to get a C or better in freshman English […]
California, Part IV
One final article on what we can learn about developing an economic growth strategy from California. John Judis wrote for the New Republic a more nuanced article than the Time magazine cover story on the future prospects of California. Its worth reading. Judis agrees that California – no matter how dysfunctional its state government – […]
Culture Trumps Policy
Reading and writing about the future of California has me thinking about what really matters to their likely continuing role as an economic powerhouse. What is it that positions them far better to succeed in a flattening world than Indiana and Michigan. I keep coming back to the central conclusion of our New Agenda work […]