Policy Research

“Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Murphy Commission, Policy Foundation project, 1998   (April 2013) The capital gains tax cut1 approved by the first Republican-controlled state legislature since Reconstruction is a modest...

“The long-term liabilities of the ARKids First program should be identified.”  Policy Foundation research memos, 2006   (March 2013) The unfunded liabilities1 of the state’s ‘ARKids First2 program,’ a major part of Arkansas Medicaid are estimated to expand by more than...

  (February 2013) Beebe administration officials are asking the state General Assembly to approve a $125 million bond deal for a steel production facility at Osceola in east Arkansas that promises 525 new jobs.  But the...

(January 15, 2013) Policymakers across the Arkansas political spectrum agree that a proposed Medicaid expansion is the biggest issue in the legislative session that began this week.  Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe told the General Assembly today,...

Taxes were raised in 1983 and, again, in 2004 with the following result: Arkansas ranked 47th, 48th or 49th nationally in per capita personal income, with a level 75 to 78 percent of the U.S. thru 2006....

“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...

“Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy Commission project, 1998   (November 2012) The policy climate has shifted dramatically in Arkansas, with Republicans winning control of the state...

(October 2012) Former President Bill Clinton noted Arkansas and Michigan are sister states1 during a March 1997 speech to the Michigan legislature.  Arkansas and Michigan share another distinction: the number of female legislators has increased significantly since...

The Orange County treasurer managed the pools, which totaled approximately $7.6 billion.  The treasurer used reverse repurchase agreements, a type of derivative. The deposits were leveraged to more than $20 billion.  Orange County declared bankruptcy in December...

  “Governor Beebe has repeatedly said that the current rate of Medicaid growth is unsustainable.” The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society, November 2011   (September 2012) Long-term Arkansas Medicaid spending exceeded the U.S. average...