by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. College graduates earn more than high-school graduates. College graduates with actuarial-science degrees earn more than college graduates with culinary-arts degrees. We all know why: Higher education gives students valuable skills that translate into high-paying jobs. College level skills that are more valuable (at the margin) command higher salaries, so acquiring science and math skills through related majors lead to more remunerative job prospects than other skill sets imparted from other majors.…

by MARYANN O. KEATING, Ph.D. A young man, selling Internet services in the U.S. and abroad, is amazed at the ability of Americans to self-correct as they adjust to the vicissitudes of the global economy.  He sees U.S. household debt, if not declining, in the process of being stabilized. The housing market is slowly, albeit painfully, adjusting. Workers, having exhausted unemployment compensation, are adapting to realistic salaries and benefits. Virtually every American, according to this…

For release Jan. 16 and thereafter (678 words) by Andrea Neal  There is one inescapable reason that a regional mass-transit system will not succeed in the Indianapolis area. “Put simply, mass transit needs mass – i.e., density.” And we don’t have it. The quotation comes from two experts in urban transit — Erick Guerra and Robert Cervero of the University of California at Berkeley. They studied 59 rapid bus transit, light-rail and heavy-rail systems in…

by Andrea Neal For a country that is saturated 24/7 in media, our ignorance of politics is stunning. Sixty-two percent of us can’t identity the governor, according to a survey by Xavier University. Three-fourths can’t answer the question “What does the judiciary branch do?” The Indiana Civic Health Index conducted in 2011 placed Indiana near the bottom on other key indicators of civic responsibility. For example, we rank 48th in the nation in voting and…

by Andrea Neal When the officers of Grote Industries sat down to discuss a possible legal challenge to the contraceptive mandate in the national health-care law, the vote was immediate and unanimous. “We decided that it was definitely against our beliefs,” says chairman and CEO William Grote III. The company filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in southern Indiana seeking to block implementation of that provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D.  Indulge in this fantasy: You wake up one morning, turn on your water faucet and a stream of perfectly shaped nuggets that look like diamonds pours out. On further investigation, you find that all your water taps are spewing what seems to be diamonds. You rush to your neighbor who happens to be a jeweler. He assures you that the diamonds are indeed genuine but reports that they are coming out…

(For the use of the membership only) As the editor of something that dares call itself The Indiana Policy Review, it’s important to me that Indiana policy is actually being discussed so it can be reviewed. I fear it’s not. My doubts began to surface several years ago during an early hearing on Indiana’s inheritance tax. A senior Republican was pressed to explain “revenue neutrality,” a concept that to my free-market mind needs a lot…

For release Dec. 30 and thereafter. by David Penticuff Some of us are pleased that the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly will include a serious attempt at reforming the way economic-development efforts are conducted in the name of Indiana taxpayers. Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, is working with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, to develop legislation that would compel the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) to actually report on how many jobs are created…

by SANDRA STOTSKY, Ph.D. The defeat of Tony Bennett as Indiana’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction was attributed to many factors. Yet, as one post-election analysis indicated, the size of the vote for his rival, Glenda Ritz, suggests that the most likely reason was Mr. Bennett’s support for, and attempt to implement, Common Core’s badly flawed standards. Common Core’s English language arts standards don’t have just one fatal flaw, i.e., its arbitrary division of reading…

by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. Seven years ago, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ “Major Moves” legislation, passed along partisan lines, authorized dramatic changes in Indiana’s transportation-funding system. Those changes included a $3.8-billion, 75-year lease of the Indiana Toll Road (ITR) to Macquarie-Cintra, a private Australian-Spanish consortium. The consortium, ITR Concessionaire Company, in  exchange for the upfront cash, assumes all management, operation, costs and revenues for the life of the lease. How did it work out? The ITR,…