Metro Minneapolis has built a diverse economy that is one of the wealthiest of any large metropolitan area in the country and has withstood deep national recessions. Median household income in the Twin Cities of $73,231 was the seventh highest…
On Wednesday I wrote about how women in particular are doing in Michigan's--and the world's--changing economy. I started by sharing data on single women-led households with children, who are more likely than not to be living in poverty. Then I…
Following a weekend in which, for the second year in a row, women around the world marched for a variety of issues affecting women and communities they care about, I thought it would be appropriate to spend a minute here…
A recent post making the urbanist rounds asks, “Is Detroit Really Making a Comeback?” The authors’ research, which was just published in the journal Cities, looks at employment, income, housing values, and other data to explore whether the resurgence evidenced…
This blog––and the work of Michigan Future––has been about the economy primarily and to a lesser degree the policies needed to improve the standard of living of Michiganders, not politics. The results of the Michigan presidential primaries in both parties…
Most observers labeled Michigan's economy from 2000-2007 as a single state recession. And interpreted it as caused primarily by state policy. In our reports Don Grimes and I labeled it a single industry recession. That the root cause of Michigan's…
CNBC ranked Minnesota the best state to do business in. Pretty surprising. Good economy? Yes. Good place to do business? Conventional wisdom is no. We have long used Minnesota as our model state. Because it has the best economic outcomes…
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Minnesota now has a $1.9 billion state budget surplus. This comes after the state in 2013 raised its top income tax rate to 9.85 percent from 7.85 percent for families with incomes over $250,000.…
What worries most about Michigan politics is that we have two parties who by and large are trying to make the 20th Century work again. A factory-based economy supported by farming and tourism. As we have documented in our reports,…