Policy Research

(May 2016) Total operating expenditures at four Arkansas state departments have increased at average annual rates greater than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the last recession ended in mid-2009.  These actual agency expenditures1 increased at annual...

(April 2016) The Policy Foundation noted more than a decade ago that state spending growth linked to an economic metric such as the Consumer Price Index would save tax dollars. CPI has increased at an...

(March 2016) Revised federal data1 show Benton County achieved an all-time Arkansas high (153.2%) in per capita personal income2 in 2012. Arkansas officials have long sought to achieve 100 percent income parity with the U.S.  Benton County, home...

"The most callused aspect of the (Arkansas) education monopoly is that it willingly and deliberately forces children--except those whose parents have wealth--to attend bad schools. And it does so with financial resources taken from parents...

"Boards and commissions have also undergone extraordinary growth since the early seventies when the number hovered around 175. The number of Arkansas boards and commissions is 388...and growing. A closer look at the trend shows that the...

(October 2015) Boards and Commissions have been described as "low-hanging fruit" in terms of state government reorganization.  A state website lists 119 separate entities that include the words "board" or "commission,"1 though the number could be greater.  A...

"Money is sound when it embodies the same virtues we all try to nurture in our children: honesty, trustworthiness, reliability." Dr. Judy Shelton, A Guide To Sound Money, (2010) Atlas Economic Research Foundation   (October 2015) The...

Summary: The Arkansas Policy Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Foundation focuses on fiscal and education policy.  This memo explains the idea that tax rates influence economic decisions about jobs and paychecks, and discusses how...

  Summary:  Sixteen states have school choice programs that provide tax credit scholarships to help students attend K-12 schools, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an Indianapolis nonprofit.   (August 2015) Arkansas' first private...

Summary: Arkansas jobs growth trails national and regional averages six years into the recovery.  States without income taxes lead the nation.   (June 2015) Six years after the Great Recession ended, Arkansas payroll employment growth trails...