Browsing: Economy

Wisconsin transportation policy should begin with the people who use the system: where they want to go, how they want to get there and how those choices may change as new technologies become available.

A costly proposed commuter rail system between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee is back on the radar of municipal leaders, even as frequent service on high-end buses already serves commuters on the same route.

Since data centers are capital intensive, Wisconsin — a state that manufactures capital goods — is benefiting immensely.

The number of dairy farms in Wisconsin has fallen below 5,000 herds for the first time — only half as many as just 11 years ago.

Spending on food in Wisconsin reached a record $5,943 per person in 2025. However, adjusting for inflation, food spending is slightly below the per-capita peak in 2019.

Much remains to make Wisconsin reach its full economic potential, including matching its strong inputs with stronger outputs.

Tax increment financing can raise existing residents’ property tax bills, at least the way the tool is used in Wisconsin.

Sales tax exemption isn’t a subsidy but a common shield against increasing consumers’ prices with hidden levies.

Wisconsin’s own economics standards consistently teach the importance of prices, profits, competition, incentives and property rights, while one of the state’s leading candidates for governor campaigns without admitting or even seeming to understand their value.

Consumer debt owed by Wisconsinites reached $49,210 per person in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Wisconsinites’ household debt, on average, is equal to 116% of their annual household income, recent data from the Federal Reserve shows.

Adjusting for inflation shows a Wisconsin manufacturing sector that has only held even for a decade, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

A growing number of Wisconsin communities are choosing to act against considerable economic interest and sit out the data center revolution.

Economic freedom is a fundamental animating idea of the republic that people should be free to work, build, hire, save, invest, trade and make their own economic choices without unnecessary interference from government.

Geography matters for what’s called “latency,” the small but often important amount of time it takes signals to travel from a user to whatever data center holds the information he’s using.

The solution to problems left by grocery store closures in Milwaukee may include a civil-society option such as a food co-op, observers say.

Think of the failure of the $1.8 billion tax-and-spending deal between Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature as a second chance at better policy.

Wisconsin and Ontario are both manufacturing centers with similar economic strengths and vulnerabilities. The Badger State should learn from Ontario’s mistakes.

Subjecting big development proposals to popular vote risks killing statewide economic growth, observers say in the wake of a successful effort by Port Washington data center opponents to give citizens the ability to nix the future use of a key financing tool.

From 2011 to 2024, Wisconsin counties beat their Illinois counterparts 103 percent to 68 percent in private-sector economic output.