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1 week ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
When I fly back to Britain, I know early on whether I will approach Heathrow by skipping along the south coasts of Ireland and Wales from the west or down through Scotland and the length of England from the north. If I fly out over Hudson, it’s the former; if I fly over Lake Elmo, it’s the latter. The small distance between Hudson and Lake Elmo turns into a distance of thousands of miles between different flight paths. The wind makes all the difference.
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1 week ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
Star Tribune: Minnesota stocks plummet as tariffs’ impact spooks consumers and companies Star Tribune: Minnesota company stocks tank amid larger market downturn Business Record: Economic indicators result in mixed reporting for Midwest region Star Tribune: Ramstad: Even if Trump pushes us into recession, Minnesota must keep working on its problems WCCO: Small businesses in Minnesota adjust amid Trump’s tariffs MPR News: ‘We’re already on thin margins’: Minnesota retailers react to the...
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1 week ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how the growth rate of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can be broken down into the shares that come from growth in human capital, physical capital, or Total Factor Productivity using a technique called “growth accounting.” That is what I do for the fifty states for the period 2008 to 2023 in our new report, “Accounting for Growth: Measuring the sources of per capita economic growth at the state level.” This matters because: Determining how a...
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
We at Center of the American Experiment have long chronicled the disastrous Southwest Light Rail Transit (SWLRT) project. Indeed, this boondoggle – nine years behind schedule and a billion dollars overbudget – was the inaugural winner of our Golden Turkey Lifetime Achievement award in 2022. Monday saw the release of a report on the project from the Office of the Legislative Auditor.
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
On this day 160 years ago, Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States Army, Ulysses S. Grant. The long national nightmare of the Civil War, which had raged for four years, was over.
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
“Downtown is back,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced on March 25. The trigger for this euphoria was the news that a new food hall was coming to the space on the first floor of LaSalle Plaza formerly occupied by Rock Bottom Brewery, which closed in 2022. Developments around the corner on Nicollet might burst the mayor’s bubble.
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
On March 24, Canada’s newly appointed Prime Minister Mark Carney called a snap election for April 28. If the economic record of his Liberal Party, which has been in office since Justin Trudeau’s victory in 2015, is a major factor in voters’ decisions, bookies would be giving you pretty long odds on them. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is a key metric of economic performance which tells us how much per person is available to be consumed, invested, or put to some other use.
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
Minn Post: Walz sales tax proposal hits consumers, while sparing business-to-business transactionsDuluth News Tribune: Local View: Paying the tax piper doesn’t always jibe with our valuesStar Tribune: Ramstad: Legislators should focus on existing spending, not the next small budget increaseMankato Free Press: Lawmakers strategize after recent forecast projects deficitPioneer Press: Will Minnesota lawmakers raise taxes this session?
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2 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
The facts of their subject’s lives usually give music biopics a ready made story. Whether it is Mozart, Buddy Holly, or Biggie Smalls, it is rise and fall. So how does a filmmaker approach a subject like Bob Dylan, who rose in the early 1960s and is still going so strong at the age of 83 that he is appearing on stage in Mankato tonight? In A Complete Unknown, James Mangold focuses on Dylan’s rise, and his theme is his escape from the clutches of the folk music movement.
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3 weeks ago | 
americanexperiment.org | John Phelan
In American Experiment’s 2021 report “The State of Minnesota’s Economy: 2020 — A focus on economic growth,” we wrote:What matters for economic welfare is per capita income. This is a general measure of welfare, telling us how much per person is available to be consumed, invested, or put to some other use. If we want to increase economic welfare, we should pursue policies that increase per capita incomes. Given its importance, Minnesota’s recent record on per capita GDP growth is concerning.
