Browsing: Economy and Infastructure

The high cost of increasing the minimum wage in Wisconsin to $15

A primer on Wisconsin’s unsustainable transportation revenues

Wisconsin’s deal should be scrapped for reasons far beyond the possible switch from factory jobs to research jobs

Commission staff adds expensive requirement to solar farm project without considering the cost or whether a bird-death problem even exists…

What is occupational licensing? How does it affect labor markets, wages, prices and interstate migration? Morris Kleiner, professor and AFL-CIO chair in Labor Policy at the University of Minnesota and author of “At What Cost? State and National Estimates of the Economic Cost of Occupational Licensing,” discusses his research at the Badger Institute’s Policy Symposium.

Wisconsin has a transportation funding dilemma. How did it occur, and how can we fix it? Dale Knapp, director of Forward Analytics, and Robert W. Poole Jr., director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, discuss growing expenditures, shrinking revenues and tolling solutions. Their presentation was delivered at the Badger Institute’s Policy Symposium.

WI can pioneer 21st century interstates, become a model for other states.

Fair-chance hiring laws may hurt the job-seekers they aim to help

Badger Institute analysis: Current restrictions undermine lawmakers’ intent, create obstacles to employment.

New report doesn’t include comparisons with other states and policy recommendations

Bipartisan legislative support for a tolling study likely exists and is validated by two major reports

The fiscal calamity looming for our neighbor to the south could help lure businesses and workers to the Badger State

Nichols: Growth will allow even greater impact on key policy issues.

With trade protection and corporate incentives, politicians could lose the firm footing of their free-market principles

James Madison would be dismayed by his namesake capital’s role in relinquishing local control to get federal grants

What minorities and the poor don’t know about money is especially costly

Luxury golf resort thrives while giving Adams County’s economy a much-needed boost

New Badger Institute book finds federal grants deprive us of our money, liberty and trust.

Authors: Even a small increase would have large economic impact.

In response to a tight state labor market, our latest report offers strategies for increasing labor force participation. The authors find that increasing the participation rate by just 1 percentage point would increase gross state product by a whopping $667 annually per resident.