Badger Institute

Give the state treasurer a job

If Wisconsin lawmakers heed the voters’ unmistakable message in April's vote rejecting a constitutional amendment to abolish the treasurer's office, the Legislature can take meaningful steps toward fiscal responsibility.

Join us July 24 for lunch, presentation and book signing

Infrastructure is critical to public safety and economic development. Yet without additional highway funding, the portion of the Wisconsin highway system in poor or worse condition will increase from 20 percent in 2014 to 42 percent in 2023. According to the latest state highway systems report, Wisconsin ranks 38th in highway performance and cost-effectiveness. Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, offers alternatives to increasing borrowing or the gas tax.

Badger Institute seeks
Development Associate

Are you passionate about free markets and creating a more prosperous Wisconsin? Are you ready to launch a rewarding fundraising career that connects passionate supporters to a cause they care about? The Badger Institute seeks a Development Associate that will be part of a small fundraising and communications team that supports its public policy programs. This full-time position will provide support to senior staff with a focus on acquisition and stewardship efforts for individual donors and foundations.

Save the date: Oct. 23

The Badger Institute proudly presents Jason Riley at our Annual Dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The columnist, author and commentator will speak on the tragic lack of educational, social and economic advancement among many African-Americans in the United States and why black political success hasn't made a difference.

Arbitrary tax breaks neither good policy nor good economics

Broad-based Wisconsin tax reform should be the goal, not short-term targeted breaks that benefit only a narrow class of taxpayers.
By Badger Institute visiting fellow Jay Miller.

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Save the date!

Join us Tuesday, Oct. 23, for our Annual Dinner — featuring Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal columnist, Manhattan Institute senior fellow, 2018 Bradley Prize winner, Fox News commentator and author of “False Black Power?” and “Please Stop Helping Us.”

He'll speak on the tragic lack of educational, social and economic advancement among many African-Americans in America and why black political success hasn’t made a difference.

For more information or to register, click here.

Badger Institute names two new visiting fellows

Ike Brannon (left), president of the consulting firm Capital Policy Analytics in Washington, D.C., and Andrew Hanson, associate professor of economics at Marquette University, will provide the institute with research and commentary on a wide variety of topical issues ranging from labor force needs to immigration to minimum wages to tax subsidies. Read more here.

Diggings Spring 2018

► Time to burn: So few fires to fight. By Dave Daley.
► Government grows at expense of private sector. By Dave Lubach.
► Clinging to an old picture. By Mike Nichols.
► Regional approach offers solution. By Janet Weyandt.
► Conservative young Wisconsin women defy stereotypes. By Emily Jashinsky.
► From the ground up: A profile of Badger Mining Corp. By Betsy Thatcher.
► Tax incremental financing: Valuable tool or crony capitalism? By Ken Wysocky.
► Tax incremental financing is a recipe for abuse. By Richard Esenberg.
► Eschewing marriage and celebrating marriage. By Marie Rohde.
► Marriage is a foreign concept to some. By Michael Jahr.
► The road to driverless transit. By Baruch Feigenbaum.

Licensure reform levels playing field for aspiring chiropractors

Madison — A bill signed by Gov. Scott Walker on April 16 will allow aspiring chiropractors who pass the national board exam to secure a license in Wisconsin without having to attain an arbitrarily higher score set by the state. Read more here.

Institute launches Center for Opportunity

The Center will focus on public policies related to poverty alleviation, criminal justice, upward mobility and occupational licensing. The Institute also announces Visiting Fellows Program.

New federal tax law should prod Wisconsin to enact tax reform

Residents in high-tax states like ours are stung harder by cap on state/local tax deduction. By visiting fellow Jay Miller.

Licensure reform helps barbers, cosmetologists

Madison — Barbers, cosmetologists and other beauty professionals will now be able to practice their professions with fewer regulatory burdens after Gov. Scott Walker on Nov. 27 signed into law reforms that will reduce complicated and costly licensing requirements. Read more here.

Government's love for licensure

Read our April 2017 report, “Government’s love for licensure,” which tells the real-world stories of Wisconsinites stymied by the state's burdensome licensure system. Reforms signed into law in November remove some of the regulations highlighted in the report.

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Webinar on Interstate tolling for Wisconsin

View our June 26, 2017, webinar featuring Robert W. Poole Jr. on the potential benefits of Interstate tolling as Wisconsin grapples with its perennial transportation funding dilemma. Poole is director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation and author of Rebuilding and Modernizing Wisconsin's Interstate with Toll Financing.

Rating YoungStar

How Wisconsin's child care quality rating and improvement system measures up. Wisconsin needs to continue YoungStar and make sure tax dollars do not flow to substandard providers.
By Rob Grunewald, Michael Jahr and Matt Snyder
June 2017

Black Robes & Blue Collars

Report identifies policy changes to Wisconsin's expungement and sentence adjustment laws that could lighten the state's prison load, increase employment opportunities for ex-offenders and help employers find workers.

► Problems with Wisconsin’s Expungement Law: How the Law is Used and How to Make It More Equitable and Effective
► Sentence Adjustment Petitions: Are They Working?

Unlocking Potential

Report highlights strategies for reducing recidivism through investment in work, training and re-entry programs, and encourages the use of social impact bonds.
► Wisconsin's historical policy dilemma on corrections
► The state can't afford status quo
► Re-entry program offers Hope for Prisoners
► Alma Center: Breaking the cycle of abuse
► MATC program puts offenders on career path
► Private industry, prisons team up
► Skilled trades program offers a second chance
► Social impact bonds: A new way forward
► Video of event in Milwaukee featuring Jon Ponder

Project for 21st Century Federalism

The Project for 21st Century Federalism is the Badger Institute's multi-year investigation of the growth in federal grants and their effect on state and local governance. Stories in the project include: