Paul Shinn served as Budget and Tax Senior Policy Analyst with OK Policy from May 2019 until December 2021. Before joining OK Policy, Shinn held budget and finance positions for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the Department of Human Services, the cities of Oklahoma City and Del City and several local governments in his native Oregon. He also taught political science and public administration at the University of Oklahoma, University of Central Oklahoma, and California State University Stanislaus. While with the Government Finance Officers Association, Paul worked on consulting and research projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and several state agencies and local governments. He also served as policy analyst for CAP Tulsa. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Oklahoma and degrees from the University of Oregon and the University of Maryland College Park. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Carmelita.
By: Paul Shinn
September 21, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Last week we released the September edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly recap of statistics that shape Oklahoma. In addition to bad news for the short run–a higher unemployment rate, more people on public support programs, and the eighth… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
September 10, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Burgerville, a small fast-food chain in the Pacific Northwest, has always made a killer fresh blackberry shake. Recently, it also made a shrewd business move: providing health insurance for employees. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the genesis… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
September 2, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The News on 6 in Tulsa reported last week on Oklahomans who lack health insurance. OK Policy’s David Blatt was featured in the story, available here in both print and video, describing who is likely to be uninsured and explaining… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 28, 2009 // Updated: October 17, 2012
Check out Slate.com’s animated map of the changing job picture over the last three and a half years. If you scroll down to the map and click the green arrow at the lower right, you can watch the job picture… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 27, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Our new Stimulus Update looks at the $52 billion in education funding in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA, better known as the stimulus). The education programs, in contrast to most other ARRA funds coming to state and local… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 26, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
This is the second of two blog posts on rural poverty by Mariah Levison, a graduate student in International Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, based on a presentation that Oklahoma Policy Institute gave last month at McCurtain Memorial… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 25, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Six months into the federal stimulus program (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA), most of the discussion has centered on infrastructure projects and the impact on economic recovery and jobs, if any. Today, we’d like to focus on… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 17, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Last month Oklahoma Policy Institute was invited by McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel to give a presentation on poverty as part of a monthly lecture series that the hospital has convened to examine pressing social problems facing their area. Our… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 14, 2009 // Updated: October 17, 2012
OK Policy focuses not just on budget and tax issues, but on finding ways for government and households to work together to make Oklahoma and Oklahomans more prosperous. One great example of this kind of partnership is 529 college savings… Read more [More...]
By: Paul Shinn
August 11, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
I recently attended a meeting of the state’s Incentive Review Committee. This board of citizens is appointed by elected leaders to review some of the hundreds of tax incentives we give to encourage specific economic activities. Dr. Larkin Warner, a… Read more [More...]