Public Welfare Spending Growth
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, public welfare and healthcare state spending have become the largest contributors to...
Entrepreneurship in Missouri, Part 1: Techweek Masks Tough Times for Kansas City’s Entrepreneurs
Today is the final day of the Techweek conference in Kansas City. This week-long event fosters and promotes entrepreneurship and...
Is a New Mississippi River Bridge Worth $60 Million?
Plans are underway to replace an aging bridge that carries US Route 54 across the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri....
So Long, Farewell . . .
Every year since 1993, Atlas Van Lines has analyzed interstate moving patterns among U.S. households. Their Migration Patterns report shows...
How to Prevent Teacher Pay Inequity from Worsening
Veteran teachers make considerably more than novice teachers. A recent report by Marguerite Roza of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown...
Driving Still Dominant in Saint Louis, Kansas City
When considering investment in transportation infrastructure, be it road, rail, or river, it is important to think about what type...
Latest economic data paints same picture: Missouri in bottom half of states
The Bureau of the Census recently released its 2014 American Community Survey (www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/). Based on two key measures—income and education—Missouri...
Ditching City Hall: A Kansas City Development Story
Kansas City has a low population density for a city its size. How low? According to the Census Bureau, Kansas...
Still Movin’ On Out
In a recent analysis of Missouri’s migration patterns since 2004, Michael Rathbone and I found that Missouri’s net out-migration—more people moving...
The Difference Between A Low Tax And A Harmful Tax
In September, the Missouri General Assembly attempted to override Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of House Bill 253. Discussion was...
Dismantling The Post-Dispatch’s Piece About Education (Part 3 of 4)
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board recently issued an opinion piece riddled with errors, faulty assumptions, and half-truths. This post...
The Time for Wishful Thinking Is Over
For years, Saint Louis officials have engaged in virtual hand-to-hand combat with the U.S. Census Bureau over the city’s population....
LeBron James Votes With His Feet (And Perhaps Uses Show-Me Institute’s IDEAS Application?)
This is admittedly old news, but in my defense, I do not follow sports. From the Wall Street Journal: According...
Vacancy, Legitimated
According to the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the city of Saint Louis has an estimated 21.5-percent residential...
Despite Government’s Encouragement, Rate of Homeownership Remains Steady
The rate of homeownership has not increased to the extent that the author implies in this Post-Dispatch article: After being...
What Is the Point of This Interactive Map?
The Census Bureau has created a map that allows you to track Census mail participation rates, which the bureau defines...
The Census Bureau Should Stick to YouTube
The response to the Census Bureau’s YouTube clips has been mixed. Some videos attracted a lot of hits; others were...
Dora the Explorer Promotes the Census
The Census Bureau has enlisted Dora the Explorer to spread its message that the Census counts babies and children. In...
Counting the Smallest Towns’ Residents
This AP story is one of the most enjoyable articles about the Census I’ve ever read. It explores how residents...
The Census Bureau Is Not a YouTube Sensation
My Two Census declares the Census Bureau’s marketing campaign a flop, based on data from its YouTube channel: The Portrait...
