The Economic Case for Reducing Income Inequality

The trend in declining wages and increased income inequality has been well documented, most recently in a July 18 North Star article. Concern over these trends goes beyond the gut level response to the impropriety of concentrating a larger and larger share of societal...

Minnesota Wage Growth Stronger Under Progressive Policies

Conservatives have blamed “blue-state” policies for what they consider to be lackluster performance by Minnesota’s economy during the 21st century. However, wage growth in Minnesota has been slightly stronger vis-à-vis the national and adjacent state averages under...

Wendell Anderson and “A State That Works”

Sunday marked the passing of a Minnesota icon, as former Governor Wendell Anderson died at age 83. Governor Anderson faded from the political scene over the course of the 1970s, but even Minnesotans borne long after Anderson’s heyday have seen the August 1973 Time...

The 1% vs. the Rest of Us

We hear a lot about income inequality, and thanks to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), we now have some state-, county-, and metropolitan area-level data to take a closer look at local inequalities. According to EPI: “Income inequality has...

Don’t Blame Blue-State Policies for Red-State Outcomes

Conservatives frequently claim that “blue-state polices” are hurting Minnesota’s economy. One line of analysis they have used is to identify negative or lackluster economic trends since the turn of the century and then lay blame for them at the feet of progressive...

Impact of 2013 Legislation on 2014 Rankings is Modest

A pair of recent North Star articles demonstrated that Minnesota was fairly typical of other states in terms of the size of government. Total state and local government expenditures per $1,000 of personal income* in Minnesota were modestly below the national average,...