We all want to reduce poverty. But we can only do so with by getting the unemployed into work and making our state's workers more productive. Waving a magic legislative…
To borrow from P. J. O'Rourke, the good news is that, according to Sen. Warren and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, the rich will pay for everything. The bad news is that, according…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.
“Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another” - Milton Friedman
Manufacturers seek solutions for the skills gap.
Minnesota’s governor scores an abysmal grade.
More taxes, really?
There is a scarcity of workers with basic STEM competencies across the entire economy, touching on virtually every industry. Think of this problem as a lack of basic STEM literacy.…
At one point, the market was on track for its worst December since the Great Depression. So what's happening?
Washington County, on one end of the I-94 bridge over the St. Croix, is pretty similar to St. Croix County on the other end. The big difference is that one…
Healthcare coverage for the one million Minnesotans enrolled in Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare programs costs state taxpayers more than $5 billion a year. We already know from a past legislative…
More research has provided further evidence that minimum wage hikes are bad public policy.
Belief in minimum wage hikes is about as close to belief in Milton Friedman's mythical 'free lunch' as you will find. They seem to offer the prospect of benefits for…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.
Many Minnesota employers are struggling to find workers. One place most aren’t likely to look is among ex-felons, who make up about 8 percent of the state’s adults, according to…
Taxes are incentives. If we tax something, we get less of it. Indeed, this is what so-called 'sin taxes' are based on. High rates of taxation on income from investment -…
If you want to help low paid workers its simple; you just vote in politicians who promise to make it more expensive to buy their labor and employers will just…
Improved productivity is the main source of per capita income growth. The two main drivers of that are education and Research & Development. Our state performs below average in both.…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.
The Politics of beer
Governor Walz talked a good game in the interview by saying he supported copper-nickel mining in Minnesota and that we must follow the science, but his selection of Sarah Strommen as…
This column, by American Experiment Chairman Ron Eibensteiner, appears in the new Winter 2019 Issue of Thinking Minnesota. All the political talk about “Two Minnesotas” in this past campaign season…
Last year I participated in a debate about the future of copper nickel mining in Minnesota at the Theater of Public Policy with Kevin Lee, from the Minnesota Center for…
A new book sounds at times like the stuff of a Democratic caucus, at others like grist for a GOP one. Either way, it sure makes you think. This op-ed…