In addition to rent control, Mayoral candidate Senator Omar Fateh wants Minneapolis to adopt a $20 minimum wage by 2028. This would be disastrous for the city, as results from…
As cellphone restrictions in U.S. schools — and globally — continue to grow popular and increasingly become go-to legislation in the education reform sphere, the obvious next question is whether…
Occupational licensing rules restrict entry into certain occupations, effectively limiting the supply of goods and services. It stands to reason, then, that loosening licensing rules should improve access to goods…
In recent years, proponents of Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) — programs that provide direct cash payments to low-income individuals with no strings attached— have touted it as a solution to fighting…
The influence of teacher unions in Wisconsin was substantially restructured following the passage of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 Budget Repair Bill (commonly known as Act 10) — and students benefited,…
St. Paul has no money for childcare. A ballot measure creating a childcare subsidy program for all low-income children in St. Paul failed to pass in the 2024 election, preventing…
Last week, Uber and Lyft, true to their word, announced that they would stop operating in Minneapolis after the City Council passed an ordinance hiking driver pay. The growth of Uber —…
In March 2021, I testified in a hearing of the House Committee on Taxes on yet another proposal to hike our state’s already high taxes. I said that there was…
One way to generate increased per-worker output — which is the essence of economic growth — is to increase the amount of capital per worker. How can policy drive that?…
Arguing that payday loans are exploitative, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law restricting interest rates charged on such loans. But as it turns out, that has had some negative consequences.…
A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows Mississippi beats Minnesota on post-COVID test score recovery. This adds to a trend of the Magnolia state…
A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that replacing salary scales based on experience and educational attainment with those based on evaluation scores resulted in…
Payday or short-term loans have a bad reputation — and for an understandable reason. Interest on payday loans tends to be high. Additionally, it is usually low-income, credit-crunched individuals that…
How school closures became a policy decision that held Minnesota students hostage.
In recent years, Hollywood celebrities have possibly been among the most outspoken proponents of higher taxes, with some of them even penning a letter calling for higher taxes. Why they…
Three things are essential for economic growth: an increase in labor (number of hours worked), an increase in capital, and an increase in total factor productivity, which can be understood…
As the White House continues to argue we aren’t in a recession, and with the National Bureau of Economic Research not providing an authoritative answer on the topic, the debate…
Seems to be the question on a lot of people’s minds. Earlier today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released GDP data for the second quarter of this year. And…
In fall 2020, public school enrollment fell 2.5 percent — over 1 in 40 students, according to an enrollment tracker published by the American Enterprise Institute. Districts that spent the…
Proponents of minimum wage laws often claim that the laws are responsible for increasing incomes of low-wage workers. In that case, employers are assumed to have significant market power, while…
Minnesota students in school districts that switched to distance learning over the course of the 2020-21 school year had greater declines in math compared to their peers in school districts…
In March 2020 Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as CARES Act. The $2.2 trillion spending program contained spending programs to provide relief to…
With COVID-19 cases rising yet again, schools in Minnesota are moving to remote learning. For example, Minneapolis Public Schools just announced that classes will be remote till month-end. Other school…
The American Rescue Plan, enacted in March 2021, extended previous measures that expanded eligibility for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to workers who are typically ineligible for state UI programs (Pandemic…