Policy Research

Prudence should guide fiscal policy. Public services should be provided in an efficient, cost-effective manner.  Savings should be used to encourage economic growth and make Arkansas competitive in terms of jobs creation and income growth.  The Murphy...

First in a multi-part series on term limits, approved by the people in 1992 and 2004.   (February 2014) The number of General Assembly members who list "attorney" or "lawyer" as their current or former...

"The most callused aspect of the current education monopoly in Arkansas 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...

(January 2014) Proponents of nationalized medical insurance long ago conceded the problem of adverse selection, i.e., buyers and sellers with asymmetric information1 create an unsustainable risk pool with few healthy and many unhealthy enrollees.  The federal Affordable Care Act...

"As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010, states now have the option to expand their Medicaid programs so that the programs provide...

  "As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010, states now have the option to expand their Medicaid programs so that the programs...

“Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy Commission project, 1998   "(Arkansas) revenues are expanding because the business cycle’s current state is expansion, not contraction." (Policy Foundation research memo,...

"When Edsel Ford died and Henry Ford had to reorganize his company board of directors there was a good deal of discussion of changes in "the Ford Empire."  Metaphors comparing a businessman with a monarch have become common.  But...

"As of Monday, more than 54,000 people--out of an estimated 250,000 who are eligible--had enrolled in the state's Medicaid program, an increase of at least 964 from the total six days earlier," the Arkansas Department...

(October 2013) In-state undergraduate tuition costs for students  attending Arkansas' largest public universities continue to outpace inflation despite the lowest multi-year increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the early 1960s.   CPI increased 12 percent between...