By Mavuto Kalulu Transparency is one of the most powerful weapons against government corruption, but counties don’t make it easy for Arkansans to access their public financial information. Only 8 out of Arkansas’s 75 counties have their 2017 budget online. Corruption is a significant problem in Arkansas. Legislative audits detected nearly $40 million in public […]
ACRE Review
Are Arkansas’s Burdensome Licensing Laws Increasing Crime?
By Caleb Taylor In an op-ed entitled “Let them work” in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on March 4th, UCA Associate Professors of Economics David Mitchell and Thomas Snyder say some licensing laws hinder ex-offenders from being able to get honest work and also burden Arkansas taxpayers with the added costs of incarceration. Mitchell and Snyder write: […]
Civil Asset Forfeiture in Arkansas May Change after US Supreme Court Ruling, But the State Could Do More to Protect Arkansans
Most people don’t realize that police officers can seize and keep the property of individuals even if that person is never convicted of a crime. It’s called “civil asset forfeiture,” and a new US Supreme Court decision is putting stricter limits on it. ACRE’s database of seizures was started as Maleka Momand’s ACRE Research Fellow […]
We asked all 75 counties for their budgets. Here’s what we found.
By Caleb Taylor How difficult is it to get a copy of a county budget in Arkansas? According to ACRE research published in an op-ed the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on February 15th, that depends on which of the 75 Arkansas counties you ask. Alexandria Tatem, a UCA Schedler Honor’s College student and an ACRE student worker […]
The Costs of Special Elections
By Aaron Newell On February 13th, Rep. Justin Gonzales, R-Okolona, presented House Bill 1402 in front the House State Agencies Committee, which would limit special elections to just two dates a year – either at a primary or general election, or their corresponding dates in off years. Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl was invited to testify to […]
Good Data is Vital to Public Policy
by Aaron Newell ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick recently wrote how better access to data can lead to better policy outcomes in Arkansas. In “Data holds the key: Good analysis vital for policy,” an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette op-ed on February 13, 2019, Bundrick explains that when it comes to targeted development incentives, Arkansas is lacking in […]
ACRE Releases New Data Guide for Arkansas Citizens
By Jeremy Horpedahl It can be tough to figure out what’s really happening in Arkansas’s economy. If you follow the news, you hear reports about the latest economic data all the time: Employment is up this month! Wages are stagnant! Poverty declined last quarter! This focus on the most recent data can be confusing or […]
Updated regulations could mean a fresh chance for Arkansans to thrive
By Alex Kanode The Arkansas Department of Corrections reports that there are almost 18,000 prisoners in the state. For a state of our size, this is a huge number. One reason is that released prisoners are more likely to reoffend here than in other states. This is known as our “recidivism rate”. One cause of […]
ACRE Expert Explains Arkansas Tax Reform Impacts
By Caleb Taylor Tax reform is moving right along in the Arkansas Legislature. ACRE Scholar and UCA Assistant Professor of Economics Jeremy Horpedahl has been busy helping Arkansans understand what the possible changes could mean for them. Tax Reform Talk on KARK 4’s Capitol View Jeremy Horpedahl discussed the latest news on Arkansas’s taxes with […]
Implementing Phase Three of Individual Income Tax Cuts in Arkansas
By Jeremy Horpedahl and Nicole Kaeding [Cross posted at the Tax Foundation Blog] January 31, 2019 Yesterday, Governor Hutchinson and legislative leaders in Arkansas announced their final plan for restructuring Arkansas’s individual income tax brackets. After more than 18 months of study, the Arkansas General Assembly will consider the plan starting next week. The plan would […]