OKPOLICY.ORG
What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.
This week Oklahoma Policy Institute wrote about five aspects of the state’s social, economic, and political landscape that explain poverty’s persistence. We reported on a new poll of 40 of America’s foremost economic experts; not a single one was in agreement with the assertion that tax cuts foster enough economic growth to pay for themselves.
We blogged about Oklahoma’s work-sharing program, which includes an unprecedented and needlessly restrictive condition that keeps it from being useful to any employers. We also posted about an upcoming event, the 45th Annual Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Conference.
David Blatt wrote in the Journal Record that Oklahoma is a poor state no longer, and it’s time to translate that newfound prosperity into enhanced personal and social well being.
In The Know, Policy Notes
- The New England Journal of Medicine found that previous rounds of state Medicaid expansion resulted in fewer deaths.
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book for Oklahoma, with 16 different indicators to measure the status of children in four key domains: economic well-being, education, family and community, and health.
- Stateline reported on a global survey of the best places to do business in oil and gas; Oklahoma ranked in the top 10 out of 147 jurisdictions worldwide for having the fewest barriers to investment – low tax rates and a loose regulatory regime.
- Economic Policy Institute marked the one-year anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureauwith a look at the bureau’s recent enforcement actions and publications.
- Sallie Mae found that more families eliminated college choices due to cost and students are paying a larger share of their education expenses through work and student loans.
- 63.2 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma high school students who do not attend a physical education class during an average week of school, compared to 48.2 percent nationally, 2011
- 1 in 2 – Unplanned pregnancies in Oklahoma occurred while partners were using contraception, 2008
- 15, 228 – The number of new businesses created each year in Oklahoma on average, compared to 14,847 businesses that close their doors, 2000-2010
- 277,891 – Number of households with children (≤18) in Oklahoma with a mother who also works outside the home, nearly 2/3rds of all such households in the state, 2010
- 86 percent – Percentage of the total number of persons sent to prison for a crack cocaine offense in Oklahoma that were people of color, 2007-2011
