Tuesday, May 8, 2018

MN vs WI Economies

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

The big advantage Wisconsin has over Minnesota, in terms of economics and business environment is that it is close to Minnesota.

--Hiram

John said...

Hiram,
Said like a true Liberal Minnesotan...

All,
I found it interesting to see that Wisc's unemployment rate is even lower than MN's.

John said...

I like the conclusion.
"Conclusion

Precisely analyzing the causal impact of a particular policy requires sophisticated statistical methods—often using two geographies’ or two populations’ similarities as a means of isolating the effect of the policy from other factors that could influence outcomes. This report does not provide that level of causal analysis. Rather, it takes a higher-level look at some key metrics of economic performance and family well-being, and it assesses how these metrics have changed after seven years of very different policy agendas implemented in two very similar neighboring states. Although specific policies in either state may have had marginal impacts that bucked the larger trends, the sum of all these metrics leads to a very clear conclusion—outcomes for workers and families over the course of the last seven years have been markedly better in Minnesota than in Wisconsin.

In some cases, it is possible to draw a straight line between a particular choice or set of policy choices and the effect it had on the state’s economy and the welfare of its residents. For example, Wisconsin’s Act 10 decimated the state’s public sector, leading to a loss of both public-sector jobs and the private-sector jobs that those public dollars supported. The combination of Act 10 and the adoption of a so-called right to work law led to a dramatic decline in the share of Wisconsin workers in unions. This almost certainly dampened wage growth, and it likely contributed to the state’s weaker income growth and slower progress reducing poverty.

In addition, the Walker administration’s decision to reject federal health exchange funding, reject the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, reject federal transportation dollars, and reject expanded federal unemployment insurance funding has likely contributed to slower job growth in the health care, transportation, and construction industries. It has likely led to higher numbers of uninsured residents, higher rates of long-term unemployment, and more people dropping out of the labor force.

In contrast, Minnesota lawmakers’ large public investments in infrastructure, health care, and education fueled the state’s impressive job growth in construction, health care, education, and other industries. The state’s decision to raise its minimum wage spurred strong wage growth for low-wage workers. Expansions to state safety net programs and low-income tax credits likely helped to bolster incomes and bring down Minnesota’s poverty rate. And, importantly, there is little evidence that the tax increases enacted to finance the state’s investments, or the decision to raise the state minimum wage, did anything to hamper job growth.

To be clear, conditions for workers and families in Minnesota today are not perfect. All of the metrics reviewed in this report could be better, and other metrics in Minnesota point to other problems. For example, there are striking racial inequities in Minnesota, with high poverty rates, high jobless rates, and severe racial segregation in the state’s urban centers (Nelson 2017; Gee 2016; Perry 2018). Advocates point to a lack of meaningful public and private investment in communities of color and misguided education policies that have encouraged racial segregation (Gee 2016). But the progress achieved in Minnesota over the past seven years is undeniable, and that progress has the fingerprints of good state policy all over it. The good news for Wisconsin is that achieving similar progress for Badger State workers and families is possible—but it will take a different policy agenda from the one the state has pursued for the past seven years."

John said...

My point being that Dayton and the DEMs have been spending a lot of our children's money via big Bonding bills. And yes that does stimulate growth in the short term, however it has to be paid off sometime.

And giving people free healthcare does increase the number of people covered, however does it help drive people to learn more, make good decisions and work harder?

John said...

And the About EPI page is telling. They seem to value unions and government intervention / wealth transfer.

EPI Values

Helping Working People Economic policy should focus on improving conditions for working people.

Truth and Accuracy Matter EPI research should be honest and rigorous.

Dignified, Remunerative Work People must be provided with the capacity and opportunity for dignified, remunerative work for personal as well as societal benefit.

Strong, Effective Labor Movement A strong, effective labor movement is essential for democracy and to ensure an equitable sharing of income and wealth.

Government for the People Government should set standards and rules for markets, and should ensure the efficient provision of public goods and investments.

Anonymous said...

People who don’t have to waste cognitive space on worrying about their next meal or if they can see the doctor will have more space to learn and grow.

Moose

John said...

Source please...

John said...

Moose,
Now I was just being a smart alec... But the fact is that many people have not been conditioned to expend effort learning and growing. It is likely the fault of genetics and/or their developmental role models.

My point being that "just giving them stuff" is not enough. Somehow society needs to encourage / mandate that they learn and grow. Just as we do with farm subsidies, research credits for businesses, etc, the money is not a gift... It is an investment in them and society wants a return.

Anonymous said...

Poverty-Mental Health Cycle

Poverty and the Brain

It's not so simple as you make it out to be.

Moose

John said...

Moose,
Did you actually read the first document you linked to?

It seems well aligned with my view. Remember that I am happy to invest in people. I just not happy about enabling them to stay poor and useless at the tax payer's expense.

"Throwing money at people doesn’t seem to help much:

Programs that primarily aimed at alleviating poverty had varied outcomes but generally were not markedly successful in decreasing the mental health problems of the target populations: “Unconditional cash transfer programs had no significant mental health effect and micro credit intervention had negative consequences increasing stress levels among recipients.”

But actual mental health intervention programs seem to help:

The researchers saw more improvement when they looked at the impact of intervention programs aimed at improving the mental health of people living in poverty. The interventions they reviewed varied from administration of psychiatric drugs, to community-based rehabilitation programs, to individual or group psychotherapy, to residential drug treatment, to family education. They also looked at the impact of mental health help on the rate and duration of employment and on family finances.

Here they found financial situations improved as their mental health improved."

My Father had a renter once who refused to stay on his medications... Why again should he get housing, food, etc from the tax payers?

John said...

Moose,
As for your second link...

G2A Child Placement Criteria

If we keep letting incapable undereducated irresponsible people make / keep babies... The number of screwed up poor kids will continue...

Just sending out checks does not help kids, as the link shows. They need good capable parents and safe communities.

Anonymous said...

Remember, it is the type of government representative that you like to choose that balks at mental health care spending.

I am and have always been in favor of helping people. Republicans, not so much.

Moose

John said...

An oldie...

G2A Conservatives or Liberals: Who Cares More?

jerrye92002 said...

I didn't want to get involved in this, but once more we have people who assume causation when they can barely prove correlation. Show me a government that can tax and spend its way into prosperity, and I will point you to a pack of people lying with statistics. What I mean is, how successful were Moscow's famous 5-year plans?

John said...

Jerry,
Either extreme on the G2A Nolan Diagram fails in one way or another... That is why our country has a mixed economy and succeeds very nicely.

Unfortunately both tribes seem intent on pulling us to the extremes. Hopefully the tug of war keeps the flag somewhat centered.

jerrye92002 said...

You think the flag is centered? Liberals have been pulling the rope leftward for at least half a century. That the Right must tug harder does not make them more extreme.

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" -- Barry Goldwater

John said...

Remember that my view is that 1/3 government and 2/3 personal is a good balance point. So yes I think the flag is currently just left of the "ideal mixed economy".

I mean most of the government spend is spent directly to protect us or help our less fortunate /capable citizens. (ie National Defense, Social Security, Medicaid, Disability, Education, Welfare, etc)

It is not like our politicians are building palaces...

jerrye92002 said...

If the "spend" is as you say, (about 1/7 defense, and over 50% for entitlements of various kinds plus interest on the debt of several percent, then we ARE spending far too much and we are FAR to the left of where we should be. Welfare of all kinds should not be an entitlement, should not be a federal function, and should be the last resort for getting WILLING people out of temporary circumstances. People not working are a drain on national wealth, rather than contributing to it. Any State that robs Peter to pay Paul is cheating both.

John said...

Well that is why you are pulling at the right end of the rope.

Keep up the good work. :-)

jerrye92002 said...

I find myself much encouraged by Trump's welfare reform and prison reform proposals.

By the way, our esteemed Gov. just vetoed tax conformity, thus raising taxes on EVERYBODY in MN, while those in WI get the Trump tax cuts. Let's revisit this topic next year and see how we're doing.