Wrapping Up a Remarkable Semester

By ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl

From reading groups and guest speakers, to professional development for educators and media mentions by the White House, ACRE has had another successful semester of economics, education, and policy research. We hope you’ve been able to come to one of our events on campus, or read some of our many materials online.

Distinguished Speaker Series & Colloquium

Michael Munger (right) with Jeremy Horpedahl

Our final guest speaker for the Fall 2023 semester was Michael Munger from Duke University, who gave a public talk on “Monopoly Power, Political Power, and the Problem of Platforms,” and also joined UCA students in several classes. Munger followed two other speakers this semester: Emily Hamilton from the Mercatus Center, who spoke about housing policy and affordability; and David Bernstein from George Mason University Law School, who spoke about the history of racial classification in the United States. Professor Bernstein was also the keynote speaker for and a participant in our annual ACRE Colloquium, which brought students and professors from across Arkansas together for a weekend to discuss the ideas in Bernstein’s book.

 

Fall Reading Groups

Students in Dr. Jacob Held’s “Landmark Supreme Court” reading group

Our reading groups set an ACRE record this semester! More students applied than ever before, resulting in a wait-list to participate. One of those groups visited Southern Methodist University in October for a weekend discussion event with students at other universities, and keynote speaker Dr. Bart Wilson from Chapman University. Our Spring 2024 reading groups will be announced soon, and we look forward to having another good response from UCA students.

 

 

K-12 Programs

ACRE’s K12 program has hosted a number of professional development opportunities for educators across Arkansas. This past month’s engaging topics included: “Economic Mysteries in Economic History: What was Roaring about the Twenties?” and “The 2023 Economics Nobel Prize: Claudia Goldin, Women, & Work.”  Looking ahead, the ACRE educator reading group will continue this spring. For a full list of K12 offerings, to sign up for the K12 newsletter, or request a classroom visit this spring, go to https://www.socialstudiesar.org/

Government Transparency in Arkansas

AFOIA in the State Constitution:

Lately in Arkansas there has been a lot of discussion about government transparency, both during the Special Session of the Arkansas General Assembly in September and in the aftermath of the legislative session, from which a citizen initiative emerged proposing the incorporation of Arkansas’s Freedom of Information Act (AFOIA) into the state constitution. ACRE Policy Analyst Dr. Joyce Ajayi has continued tracking these developments and offering her expertise to help support the public debate on the issue. In November, she participated as a panelist at a town hall meeting on this topic in Conway and also authored an op-ed, “Enshrining FOIA: Pros and Cons of Law in Constitution,” published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. In the piece, she elaborates on the consequences and implications of incorporating AFOIA into the state constitution, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of both advantages and drawbacks.

Looking ahead, Joyce, along with a team of researchers across Arkansas, is co-authoring the Arkansas Civic Health Index. This publication will offer a comprehensive analysis of Arkansas’s civic health, including aspects like web transparency. The report, set to be released in December, will provide insights into the civic and political engagement landscape in Arkansas, showcasing strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities.

Media

As part of my role as Director at ACRE and a UCA professor, I regularly appear in the media and write popular essays about economics. A few of those outreach activities stood out as especially interesting and important this semester.

New Employees

ACRE is set to accomplish even more in the coming year with the addition of two outstanding individuals to our team. Elise Ormonde and Heidi Saliba each bring unique skillsets and perspectives to ACRE’s research and outreach. We are fortunate to welcome them, and you can read more about both here.

All of us at ACRE hope that you have a wonderful last few weeks of 2023, and we look forward to sharing more about all of our events, research, and student programs in 2024.

Proposed Tax Cuts for Arkansas in 2024 Special Session

Arkansas’s state government is once again facing a large budget surplus, and once again the legislature is planning to use this surplus as a down payment on further reductions in income and other taxes. A special legislative session begins this week, and several proposed bills will reduce personal income taxes by 0.5 percentage points, corporate […]

Student Excellence Marks Conclusion of Spring Semester

In the Spring 2024 semester, ACRE was able to sponsor several students to travel to conferences on economics and related issues. Two of the major ones were the Women in Economics Symposium in St. Louis and the Society of Business, Industry and Economics conference in Florida. Here are some of the highlights of those two conferences […]

Wrapping Up a Remarkable Semester

By ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl From reading groups and guest speakers, to professional development for educators and media mentions by the White House, ACRE has had another successful semester of economics, education, and policy research. We hope you’ve been able to come to one of our events on campus, or read some of our many […]

New Faces at ACRE: Meet Heidi Saliba and Elise Ormonde

By Aahna Combs The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) welcomes Heidi Saliba and Elise Ormonde as two new, dynamic team members. These gifted people offer a multitude of expertise, a variety of skill sets, and a common enthusiasm for improving not only Arkansas’s economic climate but the lives of all individuals who reside […]

2023 Colloquium Fosters Conversations on Racial Classification

By Terra Aquia, Educational Programs Manager The ACRE Colloquium brings together students and faculty from universities across the state of Arkansas. Attendees spend a weekend reading and discussing economic topics from collections of primary & secondary sources. The 2023 Colloquium program was organized by Dr. Wendy Lucas, History Chair and Professor at the University of […]

Fall Speaker Series Welcomed Emily Hamilton

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics continued its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a presentation from Dr. Emily Hamilton on October 26. Dr. Hamilton is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her research […]

UCA Students Participate in Reading Group Summit

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator UCA students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions […]

Professor David E. Bernstein Kicks-off Fall Speaker Series

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator The  Arkansas Center for Research in Economics kicked off its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a lecture from Professor David E. Bernstein. Professor Bernstein holds a University Professorship chair at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. During his public lecture, he shared work and […]

New ACRE and Tax Foundation Book: Next Steps for Tax Reform in Arkansas

By Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Arkansans have seen multiple reductions to their taxes, especially income taxes, in recent years. Starting from a top income tax rate of 7 percent a decade ago, income tax rates have gradually been reduced. The top individual income tax rate has already been lowered […]

Arkansas’s 2023 Special Session Is Over

As I mentioned in the newsletter we sent out at the beginning of this week, the Extraordinary Session of the Arkansas General Assembly would likely happen very quickly. It did move quickly, though it lasted about one day longer than most legislators expected. And that’s where it got interesting. The newsletter from Monday also talked […]