Indiana’s General Assembly is working through some details on the final education budget, and there are issues that merit discussion. Be warned, this column is likely to leave most folks a bit flustered. Facts are unfriendly to badly informed opinions. I begin by noting that the State of Indiana does not pay teachers. The State…
In the field of economics, there is a term rarely understood by those outside of academia or policy debates. Its lack of comprehension is probably not by accident, for, if it were understood, the public would cause an uproar. Regarding the proposed Coal to Diesel plant in Dale, though, the concept is critical for the…
Last week the Brookings Institution released yet another study that should be read aloud in every Hoosier school, city council and in the General Assembly. This study was an examination of the automation risks to employment across the nation. It is worth discussing the findings, with a focus on what is currently happening in Indiana…
Special from the St. Meinrad Archabbey It’s not unusual to find monks at work cooking, baking or brewing. Monastic communities around the world create products ranging from fruitcake and cookies to cheese and beer. It’s no surprise that the Benedictine monks at St. Meinrad Archabbey have accidentally begun making peanut butter. “It is really made…
Manufacturing employment has enjoyed a long recovery since the darkest days of the Great Recession. As of late last year, we have a full 108,000 more factory jobs than in summer 2009, which marked the trough of the business cycle. This recovery eased some of the deep impacts of automation and trade that cost the…
The stories read like something from a Christmas fairytale. But they’re all true-life echoes from one of the most captivating days in West Baden Springs Hotel’s rich history.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Despite a promising new state revenue forecast, Indiana lawmakers will likely have less money to spend on child services and education than they’d hoped for when they start drafting the state’s next two-year budget in January.
The research center in which I work released our 2019 economic forecast this week. Like all economic forecasts, this one is likely wrong but is hopefully useful. To talk about the forecast, it is best to re-examine 2018. In many ways, this has been a good year for our economy. Employment growth nationally has been…
Among the most difficult thing for individual workers to understand is the overall pace of productivity changes within their own industries or occupations. We all tend to be close to our own work, and don’t readily observe what happens around us to employment and production, the two factors that dictate productivity growth. Even if our…
Last week, General Motors announced significant layoffs across both its salaried staff and production workers. This should come as no surprise. Through government bailout, GM was spared the deep structural changes needed in 2007-2009, so it was inevitable that new leadership would have to make some tough choices. We should expect more of the same,…
