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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Metrics show free-market reforms lead to broad prosperity in Wisconsin
- Act 10 becomes a front-burner issue — along with billions in savings, lower costs to local governments, and better pay for excellent teachers
- Political rhetoric on trade poses risks to Wisconsin
- Wisconsin’s burdensome childcare rules hurt parents’ pockets
- The harm of guaranteed basic income
- Milwaukee aside, police ranks recovering across Wisconsin
- Wisconsin: the GOAT of dairy goats
- Justice has gotten swifter in Wisconsin; observers see room for more improvement
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Here at the Badger Institute, we still believe in the American Dream, in America, and in Wisconsin. Your generosity makes it possible for the Badger Institute to uphold the principles of free enterprise, liberty and limited government.
Shortly before our Oct. 1 annual dinner, we learned about a conversation Rich Lowry, editor of National Review and at…
Our Annual Dinner is coming up on October 1, and we’ll feature a panel of veteran journalists and think tank…
Opponents of constitutional amendments use tornado scare tactics — don’t believe them
The opponents of constitutional amendments that would give legislators say along with the governor on spending federal dollars are claiming…
If voters approve two constitutional amendment questions in August, Wisconsin would join 34 other states whose governors and legislators share authority over major federal funding allocations.
Passing the amendments would give Wisconsin’s 33 state Senators and 99 state Assembly members, elected by you, a say in where huge sums of federal money go. It doesn’t get much more democratic than that.
Here at the Badger Institute, we still believe in the American Dream, in America, and in Wisconsin. Your generosity makes it possible for the Badger Institute to uphold the principles of free enterprise, liberty and limited government.
Thanks to your generosity, we produced reams of research, championed many policy reforms, helped kill some bad policies, and were part of numerous legislative victories in Madison.
Among 85 Wisconsin school districts seeking tax hikes Tuesday, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is making far and away the biggest ask.
The children in MPS deserve better. The city deserves better. There is no realistic argument that more money is the solution. To the extent a big influx of cash allows further complacency, it is more likely to hurt.
According to the Milwaukee Public Schools’ own figures filed with the state, at least 20 of the district’s schools had enrollments last school year that were less than half the building’s capacity.
Many — if not most — kids counted as enrolled in the Milwaukee Public Schools miss at least three weeks of class throughout the year. In some schools, nearly all kids are chronically absent — that is, absent on more than 10% of possible attendance days.
“I used to live in California and saw what this type of supposedly “protectionist” policies do to housing and the culture, and how it typically favors upper middle and upper income folks and hurts everyone else, especially minorities and the young, who can’t even dream of owning a house.”
Thank you for caring about what goes on in the state of Wisconsin. We do, too. We’re the Badger Institute — and we’ve been advancing the cause of free markets, individual opportunity and prosperity here since 1987.
Badger Institute President Mike Nichols responds to questions raised regarding research projects into marijuana legalization.
More than 5,000 students with disabilities participate in one of four Wisconsin school choice programs. In 2022 alone, more than 150 schools in the state’s choice programs accepted 2,217 students with special needs scholarships.
The Badger Institute believes that energy solutions must include a pragmatic balancing of costs and benefits to the economy both now and long-term. The transition must be dictated by science and economics and include free-market principles.
According to a Marquette Law School poll last fall, 64% of registered Wisconsin voters, and 43% of Republicans, favor full legalization. Thirty percent of Wisconsinites and 50% of Republicans think it should remain illegal. Only 6% of registered voters say they just don’t know.
It’s telling that Gov. Evers, Sen. Larson and the rest keep using words like “the wealthy” and “rich” to talk about their targets. The Wisconsin income tax is levied not on wealth that people have saved but on income — what they earn. If you say “rich,” with its implications of inheritance or luck, you don’t have to grapple with how taxes take what someone is working for.
The biggest policy decisions in the Badger State are made during budget deliberations. Here is how your support has helped spur policy ideas into tangible action: