By Joyce Ajayi, Mavuto Kalulu, and David Lee Year after year we are seeing more laws and initiatives go into effect to encourage local levels of government in Arkansas to have more online transparency. For example, Act 564 recently mandated all Arkansas counties to publish their annual budget and financial reports online. Why is this important? Local […]
The ACRE Review
2 Essay Contest Winners Are ACRE Undergraduate Fellows
By Caleb Taylor Tanner Corley and Zakree Massey, 2019–2020 ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellows, are two winners of the 2020 Carl Menger Essay Contest announced this week. The third winner is from Hillsdale College. Corley and Massey will each receive $500 after attending and presenting at the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics meeting at […]
Permanent 0.5% Sales Tax on Ballot
By Caleb Taylor Should Arkansas approve a permanent 0.5 percent sales tax for road funding in November? UCA Assistant Professor of Economics and ACRE Scholar Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl gave voters a few important points to consider in “Paying for roads,” in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on September 25. The 0.5 percent sales tax on the ballot […]
Is Arkansas’s Sales Tax Holiday Really Worth Celebrating?
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas’s annual sales tax holiday allows shoppers in Arkansas the opportunity to purchase certain school supplies, school art supplies, school instructional materials, and clothing free of state and local sales or use tax one weekend per year. The holiday occurred on August 1-2 this year. Sixteen other states have similar back-to-school holidays. […]
How to Minimize Corruption in Pandemic-Related Programs
By Caleb Taylor How can corruption be minimized in pandemic-related government programs? Incentivize whistleblowers and improve online transparency. Programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or the Ready for Business Grant Program need greater scrutiny, according to ACRE Policy Analyst Dr. Mavuto Kalulu in “Be vigilant,” an op-ed published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on […]
Improving Access to Mental Health Care for Arkansans
By Caleb Taylor How can Arkansas improve access to mental health care? Zak Massey, a former ACRE Research Fellow, discussed the benefits to Arkansas’s mental health outcomes of expanding scope of practice for nurse practitioners in an op-ed published in Arkansas Business on July 27 entitled “Free Nurse Practitioners.” Massey writes: Nurse practitioners can provide […]
Reducing Barriers to Health
By Ryan Jackson According to the Center for Disease Control, 65 year old adults have lower life expectancy in Arkansas than in the vast majority of other states. Given the plight of our elderly, our state’s seniors would benefit from policies that improve the healthcare they receive. For instance, a state policy that reduces the […]
How Can Arkansas Counties Prevent Abuse of Public Funds?
By Caleb Taylor What solutions are available to county officials hoping to stop corruption like the recent case of a former Craighead County Clerk allegedly stealing $1.6 million in taxpayer funds? Online transparency helps the public guard against cases of fraud, according to ACRE Policy Analyst Joyce Ajayi in “To prevent abuse,” published in the […]
Did GDP Really Fall by 32.9 Percent?
By Caleb Taylor How bad were the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers for the second quarter of 2020? The data shows an “immense amount of economic pain” from April through June compared to the first quarter but it’s much less than the “headline” number of -32.9 percent released in July, according to UCA Assistant Professor […]