A major factor in our state’s workforce development crisis is a mismatch between the skills workers have and those required by in-demand jobs. But there’s good news: A vocational exploration…
A frequent theme in the many interviews I’ve conducted over the last year, as well as in much of the reading I’ve done for American Experiment’s “Great Jobs Without a…
If immigration is going to be used as a policy tool to boost Minnesotans per capita incomes, the focus will have to be on attracting skilled immigrants.
Concerns over the left’s attacks on free speech, particularly on college campuses, made the front page above the fold this week in the Star Tribune. American Experiment’s John Hinderaker, who…
Minnesota's workforce is set to shrink as a share of its population. To keep GDP per person growing, our state will need to improve worker productivity.
Between now and 2035, Minnesota's declining Labor Force Participation is going to slow GDP per capita growth.
Today’s Star Tribune has a front-page story on the assault on free speech at the University of Minnesota, in which I am quoted: The barricades were in place outside Anderson…
Minneapolis city officials’ mania for bike lanes could be an emergency. That’s the diagnosis by Dr. Geoffrey Emerson in the Star Tribune in the latest cry for help from…
In 1980, Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman turned TV presenter. Over ten episodes, his PBS program Free to Choose explored the workings of the market economy and explained how…
The laws of economics applied just as much in 1946 as they do now. Here, in Newsweek from this day in 1946, the great economic writer Henry Hazlitt explains some…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.
Today the United States Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing in Washington, D.C., entitled The School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Intersections of Students of Color with Disabilities. The briefing…
Even though capitalism is the superior economic system, polls show alarming numbers of younger Americans preferring socialism or communism. The excellent new book, Back in the USSR: What life was…
This is another one of my “post-Roast” tributes reflecting on some of Mitch Pearlstein’s accomplishments during the “early days” of the Center. My previous piece, which includes the fun poem…
Nothing we’ve learned about Al Franken in the past few weeks should have come as any surprise to Minnesotans. An excellent example of this is a column that American Experiment’s…
National Democrats want Minnesota Sen. Al Franken out of office sooner rather than later. But Minnesota DFLers are torn over whether or not the former funny man should quit, the…
MnDOT’s rush to go green just hit what could be more than a bump in the road. The Pioneer Press points out this week’s ice and snow storm exposed an…
The City of Minneapolis is busily cutting back on traffic capacity by adding dedicated bicycle lanes, even on heavily traveled thoroughfares like Washington Avenue. One gets the sense that bike…
Minnesota's budget is projected to be in deficit in 2018/2019 and 2020/2021. But tax cuts in St. Paul are not to blame. For one thing, there haven't been any.
Teachers in the classroom today are being represented by an heirloom union that was selected by teachers a generation or more ago. Anyone old enough to watch the news back…
Minnesota budget projections show a deficit of $188 million for the current two-year budget cycle, and a projected negative balance of $586 million for the 2020-21 biennium.
One of the silliest phrases in the Leftist lexicon is “white privilege.” What it means, no one knows. But if you are a liberal, you are probably convinced that it…
One of the most significant provisions of the Senate tax cuts got lost in the media frenzy immediately following passage. On the way to approving the most comprehensive tax reform…
Minnesota has low unemployment but creates jobs at a lower rate than the nation generally. And the jobs it does generate have been in lower productivity sectors of the economy.