By Caleb Taylor A recent arrest of a Craighead County Clerk for theft of public funds shows the importance of improving the online transparency of county governments in Arkansas. Craighead County Clerk Kade Holliday resigned last week and was charged with 13 felonies related to theft of public funds — estimated at $1.6 million —after […]
ACRE Review
Undergraduate Research Fellow Presents at Virtual Conference
By Caleb Taylor ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellow Tanner Corley presented his research at the virtual Knee Center Occupational Licensing Conference on May 29. Corley received feedback from other conference participants and economists from a variety of policy groups including Dr. Morris Kleiner, a nationally recognized expert on occupational licensing, professor, and AFL-CIO Chair in Labor […]
Reserve Fund Balances & Rules Shape State Preparedness for Crisis
By Caleb Taylor What’s one tool states can use to weather financial downturns? David Mitchell and Dean Stansel have been studying state fiscal crises for more than a decade. As state finances falter from COVID-19’s impact, Mitchell and Stansel draw on their research in a recent opinion article in RealClearPolicy to show how long term […]
Arkansas Handling Economic Turmoil Better Than Most States
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas is doing relatively well so far compared to the rest of the nation in weathering the economic shocks from COVID-19 since March, according to UCA Assistant Professor of Economics Jeremy Horpedahl. Horpedahl, an ACRE Scholar, spoke to attendees of a webinar hosted by Americans for Prosperity-Arkansas on May 11 about economic […]
Do Economic Development Incentives Work?
By Caleb Taylor How effective are Arkansas’s economic development incentives? Not very, according to ACRE Research Fellow Erica Smith in an op-ed published on May 11 in Arkansas Business entitled “Arkansas’ Ineffective Incentives.” Smith writes about the economic literature on economic development incentive programs such as Arkansas’s Quick Action Closing Fund (QACF) and concludes that […]
Economics Student of the Year Is ACRE Fellow Erica Smith
By Caleb Taylor Congrats to ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellow and new UCA alumnae Erica Smith for being named economics student of the year by the UCA College of Business! Smith plans to begin her professional career with a few years working in supply chains and learning about logistics before pursuing a graduate degree. Erica majored […]
How Will Arkansas’s Labor Market Change after the CARES Act?
By Caleb Taylor How will unemployment insurance increases in the CARES Act affect the labor market in Arkansas? Jeremy Horpedahl, assistant professor of economics at the University of Central Arkansas, called the $600/week bonus unemployment benefit included in the law “the most significant support from the federal government for individuals suffering from the economic slowdown, […]
Greater Transparency in Faulkner & Other Arkansas Counties
By Caleb Taylor ACRE Policy Analysts Joyce Ajayi and Dr. Mavuto Kalulu spoke to the Faulkner County Tea Party on March 5 about their latest research on online transparency in Faulkner County and other county governments in Arkansas. Faulkner County climbed from the 8th most online-transparent county in 2018 to 6th in 2019. This comes […]
ACRE Student Spotlight: Zakree Massey
By Caleb Taylor Does expanding the scope of practice of nurse practitioners improve mental health outcomes in certain populations? ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellow Zakree Massey and UCA Associate Professor of Economics and ACRE Director Dr. David Mitchell answer this question and more in a forthcoming paper entitled “Expanding the Use of Nurse Practitioners and Young […]
How Arkansas Can Address Its Shortage of Primary Health Care
By Caleb Taylor How can Arkansas improve its access to medical care? Let nurse practitioners practice to the full extent of their education and training, according to ACRE Economic Policy Analyst Dr. Maryam Almasifard in an op-ed “Improve access” published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on March 9. Almasifard says: Residents in rural areas are even […]