Recent Articles

The Weekly Wonk November 2, 2014

The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.… Read more [More...]

State workforce still at critically low levels

Despite four years of solid economic growth, Oklahoma’s state budget has never recovered fully from the last recession. While total state appropriations are slightly above pre-downturn levels, the FY 2015 budget is $680 million, or 7.9 percent, below FY 2009… Read more [More...]

SQ 770 & 771 would expand property tax breaks for some veterans and their families

After Oklahoma voters decided twenty state questions in 2010 and 2012, including several broad and contentious issues, this November’s ballot may seem anticlimactic. Oklahoma voters will have just three state questions to decide, none of which are especially momentous. Two… Read more [More...]

Misguided ruling could rob health care from 55,000 Oklahomans

The ruling by Oklahoma federal District Court Judge Ronald A. White that Oklahomans buying health insurance on healthcare.gov are ineligible for tax credits may have been a victory for Attorney General Scott Pruitt. But if upheld by higher courts, it… Read more [More...]

Upcoming Event: The 2014 Elections and the Future of Health Reform

On Monday November 10th, Dr. Lawrence R. Jacobs, one of America’s foremost experts on health care policy, will give a lunchtime talk titled, “The 2014 Elections and the Future of Health Reform.” The talk, co-hosted by Oklahoma Policy Institute and… Read more [More...]

Broken Democracy, Part II: What’s getting in the way of voting?

It may have been hard for Oklahomans and other Americans not to develop an acute case of election envy during the recent Scottish referendum on independence. Eighty-five percent of eligible Scottish voters cast a ballot; in some districts, turnout topped… Read more [More...]

The conservative case for raising the minimum wage

For many working Oklahomans, low-wage jobs aren’t paying enough to support themselves and their families without public assistance. Raising the minimum wage would boost the overall economy while properly shifting the responsibility for ensuring family economic security back towards the… Read more [More...]

Introducing our new class of Research Fellows and interns

Oklahoma Policy Institute is very pleased to announce the selection of four Oklahoma graduate students as our second class of OK Policy Research Fellows. The 2014-15 Research Fellows are all distinguished by a combination of strong research interests and an… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s democracy is broken

Last month,  Oklahoma voters went to the polls for primary runoff elections. Well, a few voters went to the polls. Average turnout was a paltry 18.1 percent. In 11 of the 16 runoff contests, fewer than one in five registered… Read more [More...]

Schools, housing, & poverty: Thoughts on segregation in Tulsa

This is an edited version of remarks made to a community form hosted by the Dan Allen Center for Social Justice on “Resegregation of Tulsa Schools” held September 4, 2014. All statistics, along with their sources, are compiled in this… Read more [More...]