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 […]
Severance Taxes Too Volatile
By Macy Scheck Between November 5, 2019 and January 21, 2020, natural gas prices dropped 33.6%. This dramatic price decline occurred even before March, when the coronavirus began to have a large impact on U.S. economic activity. This price volatility causes fluctuations in the revenue the state receives from its taxes on natural gas sales, […]
Dry Counties Left Thirsty For Revenue
By Ryan Jackson For most Americans the idea of not being able to go to a store and purchase alcohol seems very foreign. However, the idea is not foreign to many Arkansas residents as dry counties are very prevalent in the state. Nearly half of Arkansas’ counties are dry, 34 out of 75 counties. Not […]
Why Arkansas Eminent Domain Law Needs To Be Reformed
By Kennedy Neely Since the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many states are dealing with increased demands to remove statues honoring Confederate Soldiers. In particular, the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas has been facing a debate centered around the relocation of a Confederate statue on private property downtown. Because the statue is […]
Barber Licensing in Arkansas Could Use a Cut
By Tanner Corley We all hate when we get a bad haircut, but should the State of Arkansas be mandating that barbers receive 1,500 hours of training, pass an exam, and pay a fee? In Arkansas, anyone who would like to cut hair must meet these requirements. In March of 2019, State Sen. John Cooper […]
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 […]