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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Forty-year-old vehicle emissions program under new scrutiny
- In memory of Tom Howatt, embodiment of American Dream
- The Wisconsin experiment in economic freedom
- An agenda for opportunity and prosperity in Wisconsin
- From mudslinging to Mandate
- UW System opens door to 3-year degrees, but many students already are on pace for one
- How to keep good teachers in the classroom
- In talent squeeze, independent schools respond — and seek relief
Research
The collected Wisconsin research conducted by the Badger Institute — home of the Badger State’s best work on economic freedom, educational opportunity and civil society.
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.
How to let Wisconsin’s judges help job-seekers and employers.
The report includes two policy briefs:
► Problems with Wisconsin’s Expungement Law: How the Law is Used and How to Make It More Equitable and Effective
► Sentence Adjustment Petitions: Is this Truth-in-Sentencing Provision Really Working?
(and the real-world stories of Wisconsinites cheated out of their livelihoods)
Research and stories show the need for occupational licensing reform in Wisconsin. Authors include Ike Brannon, Logan Albright, Scott Niederjohn, Mark Schug and Jan Uebelherr.
POLICY BRIEF
As the labor market for teachers evolves, we need more competition and less regulation.
Wisconsin cannot afford the status quo on its corrections policy. Programs across the nation that are working to reduce recidivism should be part of the state’s strategy.
Authors include Michael Flaherty, Marie Rohde, Michael Jahr, Janet Weyandt, Joe Stumpe and Gerard Robinson.
How to recreate the outstate university and finally give students their money’s worth
Wisconsin conservatives or Minnesota liberals?
Report compares the growth and distribution of Income in Wisconsin and Minnesota after the Great Recession.
► What do the UW instructors without it – the ones doing much of the teaching – think?
By Ike Brannon, Ph.D.
► How the Regents can make professors accountable to taxpayers and students
Antiquated state law puts the squeeze on consumers and should be repealed.
Authors include Dave Daley, Mike Nichols, Greg Pearson, Louann Schoenberg, Betsy Thatcher, Tom Tolan and Ken Wysocky.
How to get the UW System more involved in ground-level economic development.
Five stories from around Wisconsin illustrate the need for repeal of prevailing wage.
Authors include Dave Daley, Lori Holly, Greg Pearson, Betsy Thatcher
and Jan Uebelherr
Analysis shows the economic benefits of a right-to-work law.
City is making progress on educational attainment, but not nearly enough.
Raising the minimum wage would boost the wages of some workers, but it also would result in fewer jobs.
Economists from Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy have determined through economic modeling that Wisconsin would benefit long-term from further tax cuts. Yet, they’ve found, Wisconsin doesn’t just suffer from high taxes. It suffers from the wrong tax mix.
Help Us Do More for Wisconsin
Your support at any level is important to us. Your generous donation helps the Badger Institute fight every single day to advance free markets, individual liberty, and limited government in Wisconsin.

