How Do We Grow?
A couple of recent news articles struck me as representing where the Michigan is now and how we might turn it around. The first is from Brian O’Connor at the Detroit News on how Michigan is in for another decade of slow growth at best. It quotes some of the best economists on the Michigan […]
High School Accelerator
Nice editorial in today’s Detroit News about a new high school initiative we are about to launch. We have been calling it a metro Detroit high school accelerator. Its mission is to create over the next eight years thirty five new small high quality high schools in Detroit and its inner ring suburbs. The first […]
dbusiness Article Update
The folks at dbusiness gave me a great opportunity to do a long essay on our prescription for improving the Michigan economy. You can read it here. The article went to print before the new 2008 state data came out on both per capita income and college education attainment. So here are the latest data. […]
The Importance of Four-Year Degrees
A recent comment from Jeffery questioned the value of four-year degrees for all. This is a frequent question I get in my presentations. So I thought it worth doing a blog, rather than just responding to the comment. Since we are interested in how to rebuild a high prosperity Michigan, our focus is on what […]
Public Investments, Part III
So if the prestigious Milliken/Blanchard panel laid out a framework for state policy makers on tax and spending policies that will help grow the Michigan economy, why have their recommendations been ignored? I think there are three main reasons: 1. As we have learned the last several years both raising taxes and cutting spending are […]
Public Investments, Part II
So if public investments are the key to better position Michigan to prosper in a knowledge-based economy what should policy makers do? The framework for action was spelled out by the Milliken/Blanchard panel in 2007. A group of bi partisan heavyweights convened by Governor Granholm. They wrote a terrific report which the Governor and the […]
Public Investments are the Priority
Just back from a week in beautiful – but rainy – northern Michigan. As I was leaving I circulated a terrific column by Rick Haglund (read it here). It once again provides evidence that lower taxes is not a path to economic success. Quite surprising it reports that the Tax Foundation – a conservative think […]
A Top Ten That Matters
Seems like every week there is another top ten list that folks claim Michigan should be on. Many are tax rankings. Some measure how “business friendly” states or regions are. Only problem with these lists is being on the top ten almost never means that you have a prosperous economy. When it comes to inputs […]
Books To Read III
When it comes to what we call preparing talent – teaching and learning – the books that best help me understand the big picture are: Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn and Curtis Johnson. For those interested in how education should look in the future this is the best book I have read. It […]
The Limits of State Policy
Hal Wolman, formerly of Wayne State, now at George Washington, was in town this week. He is working on a national project to try to figure out what characterizes resilient regions – those that recover from big economic shocks. I participated in a meeting he convened of a small group of “old hands” on the […]