Monthly Archives: June 2009
MOSERS Bonuses Revisited
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] Jim Winkelmann — who was mentioned recently on this blog for his pithy letter to the Post-Dispatch arguing against the Clayton smoking ban — has had another letter to the editor printed in that paper. This one addresses the contentious topic of bonuses for … Continue reading
A Taxing Dilemma
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] Caitlin Hartsell’s recent blog entry discusses another recent news piece, this one in the Springfield News-Leader, about that lawyer who is suing small Missouri towns that he holds to be charging illegally high sales taxes. I already talked about this in terms of theory, … Continue reading
High-Speed Rail Would Take Taxpayers for a Ride
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] There’s an unfortunate discussion going on among Midwestern governors and the federal government about a possible high-speed rail line linking major Midwestern cities. The Show-Me Institute has covered the problems with light rail in the past, but surely some of the arguments carry over: … Continue reading
Local Tax: Ups and Downs
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] There’s an article in the Columbia Daily Tribune today that discusses the latest flap in Jefferson City about a sales tax issue (link via Combest). The article deals with some general perverse incentives, and is an interesting study in public choice theory, but the … Continue reading
CREDO Charter Study: Missouri an Outlier
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] The St. Louis Beacon and Kansas City Star both have stories about a recent study from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes that analyzes charter school performance nationwide, with specific results for Missouri. The news is not all good. According to the report, … Continue reading
Honey, I Shrunk the Legislature
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] A very encouraging post on the Freakonomics blog today mentions that the Maine state legislature recently proposed a bill that would unify the state’s Senate and House into one representative body, making Maine the second state in the union to go unicameral. Unfortunately, the … Continue reading
Charter School Results Getting Federal Notice
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] I came across this story about charter school advocates being heard by the House Education and Labor Committee in Washington, D.C. One of the wonderful points of focus in this piece highlights the benefits of charter innovation, which can then be adopted by other … Continue reading
More Health Care for Less Money
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] There’s a great piece on the Washington Post website about improving health care at the federal level. Among the wonderful insights, which are quite intuitive, but likely not widely considered, are: 1. Applying the law of demand to health care: Research shows that if … Continue reading
Handle Stimulus Funds With Care
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] The Columbia Missourian has an op-ed from the Show-Me Institute’s Joe Haslag and David Stokes. It addresses the question of what legislators should have done with the federal stimulus money coming to Missouri. Haslag and Stokes recommend using the funds as an opportunity to … Continue reading