Recent Articles

Laffer Debunked: States without an income tax do not enjoy stronger economic growth

Update: We have put out a fact sheet summarizing major flaws in the Laffer report. Do states without an income tax enjoy stronger economic growth? This is one of the central claims made by economist Arthur Laffer in a recent… Read more [More...]

Report: Affordable Care Act to substantially expand coverage, reduce uncompensated care in Oklahoma

The Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law that takes full effect in 2014, is expected to provide health insurance coverage to over 335,000 uninsured Oklahomans and reduce the state’s uncompensated health care costs by more than two-thirds ,… Read more [More...]

The pseudoephedrine debate: Available with or without a prescription?

The question of whether to require a prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine (the main ingredient in medications such as Sudafed) as a means to help combat the production of methamphetamine,  promises to be one of the  hotly contested issues… Read more [More...]

The buck stops anywhere but here

Last week I participated in a StateImpact Oklahoma forum on the state budget with Rep. Earl Sears, the Chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee (R-Bartlesville),  and Sen. Tom Adelson (D-Tulsa).  An audience member asked the legislators what they… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Doug Hall): America’s infrastructure — ticking time bombs in every state

Doug Hall is Director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at The Economic Policy Institute. This is a slightly revised version of a post that originally appeared on EPI’s Working Economics blog. Later today, I will pass through two… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Matthew Norris): City 5.0 – The Economics of Personal Fabrication

Matthew Norris is Board President of Fab Lab Tulsa, Inc. and is one of the principal founders of the organization. This post originally appeared on the Fab Lab Tulsa blog. Fab Lab Tulsa opened on a hot September 13th in… Read more [More...]

Guest Post (Paul Shinn): How we can move from good child care to quality early learning

Paul Shinn is public policy analyst for Community Action Project of Tulsa County, which offers early learning and other programs for low-income children and families across Tulsa.  This post initially appeared on CAP’s Tulsa Initiative blog. At Community Action Project… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Juan Pedroza): Should I stay or should I go?

Juan Pedroza is a Research Associate at The Urban Institute’s Center on Labor, Human Services and Population. This originally appeared on the Urban Institute Metro Trends blog and is reposted with permission. Juan’s research will appear in a forthcoming issue… Read more [More...]

Looking back: Our most popular blog posts of 2011

Each year we try to rouse ourselves out of our post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s slumber long enough to pull together a Top 10 list of our most popular blog posts. As we said last year, if this organization, with its rich… Read more [More...]

Revenue forecast confirms need for caution

On Tuesday, the Board of Equalization certified a preliminary estimate of the revenues available for next year’s budget. The numbers confirm that while the worst of the fiscal crisis is over, the state is experiencing a slow, incomplete recovery that… Read more [More...]