On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order which urges the continued work of states and localities in the area of occupational licensing. This would include states like Nebraska and Iowa, who have been toiling for several years in this arena. While most occupational licensing takes place at the state level (and, so, problems with...
Here are additional resources from this webinar: Contact Shaun Flanagan Contact Ed Wickstead Presentation slides Video: “What is prosperity? Video: “USPI Key Findings” United States Prosperity Index website Reports and data Nebraska Index profile
Emily Hamilton, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University joined Adam Weinberg to discuss her new Plate Institute policy brief, Build More Housing: Land Use Reform Opportunities for Nebraska’s Cities.
Nebraska’s November General Fund tax revenues are in, and the good news is that revenue forecasts were both exceeded by actual collections for both the month and the fiscal year. According to a press release from the Nebraska Department of Revenue, the month of November saw revenues 14.3% above the certified forecast and revenues for the...
Introduction Across the U.S., local zoning ordinances limit the amount of housing that can be built within their jurisdictions and drive up costs for housing that is permitted. These regulations are particularly burdensome for low-income households.1 The effects of land use regulations on housing costs are largest in high-cost coastal regions, but the ubiquity of...
On December 16, the Platte Institute will host researchers Shaun Flanagan and Ed Wickstead of the Legatum Institute for our latest webinar. You can register at PlatteInstitute.org/Events. The Legatum Institute is based in the United Kingdom and has built a niche in the area of studying relative measures of prosperity between countries and even U.S....
This article from the Lincoln Journal Star popped up in my notifications a bit ago, and while the first section talks primarily about COVID-19 response and plans at the University of Nebraska, here’s one excerpt that struck me as the most interesting. Ted Carter, the University of Nebraska president, is also a retired U.S. Navy...
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many unreasonable rules that made it difficult for Nebraskans to access health care. With the need for social distancing guidelines, telehealth represented a reasonable means to help prevent transmission of the virus while delivering quality care. Across the country and in Nebraska, governors temporarily repealed telehealth regulations that blocked access to...
According to a new report by the Tax Foundation, Nebraska has a combined federal, state, and local tax rate of 29.13% on wireless services. Most of the tax is at the state and local level, comprising 19.30% of the total tax. For context, Illinois is the highest at 32.20% and Idaho is the lowest at...
In a letter addressed to the governors of Iowa and Nebraska, and state legislators, the leaders of two Midwestern policy organizations propose that both states can improve their economic response to the COVID-19 recession by adopting each other’s recent professional licensing reform legislation. Platte Institute Chief Executive Officer Jim Vokal and Iowans for Tax Relief...
As sometimes happens when you’re reading stories online, you stumble across things you’d never seen from months ago. In this case, I ran into this article from Forbes—published in January of this year—which talks about a study by Atlas Van Lines that tracked migration patterns in the country in 2019. The study found that in...
A recent Wall Street Journal article opens with this line: “The coronavirus destroyed jobs. It also created entrepreneurs.” Although the economy has struggled throughout the pandemic, the challenges have opened up new opportunities for some, as well. “As horrible as [the pandemic] is, and as badly as it has affected so many people, it has...
As health officials advise to avoid large family gatherings this Thanksgiving, and gas prices remain on the lower side, many Americans might take to the highways for a road trip with the people in their COVID bubble. Though AAA travel projections show a major reduction in travel plans from last Thanksgiving, particularly among air passengers,...
The Nebraska Department of Labor reports that the state’s October 2020 unemployment rate declined to 3%, which ranks as the country’s lowest for the third consecutive month. Nebraska’s unemployment rate fell 0.6% from September to October, with non-farm employment increasing by 8,912. Nebraska has not seen an unemployment rate this low since before the pandemic...