by Craig Ladwig Forgive skeptics of the tableau vivant unfolding for Regional Cities initiatives across the state. They seem dumbstruck. They don’t have the data to challenge the expansive vision and supporting PowerPoints of economic-development directors and their armies of experts. That does not mean, though, that they don’t have a vision of their own. In my city, the economic-development group has documented its vision in a 200-page Regional Cities grant proposal. It is a…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Did you know there is an Indiana Daffodil Society? I don’t know much about daffodils except they come up after the crocuses and before the tulips and irises. Nor do I desire to acquire detailed knowledge about a flower that shows its face for 20 days a year. However, I think it is great that there are people in Indiana who do. A quick view of the organization’s website indicates it…

Dear Editor: There are those of us still around who grew up in newsrooms where the model city editor was Jack Webb playing Sam Gatlin in the 1956 film “-30-.” We are limited in what we can add to the debate over your behind-the-back campaign to reorder Hoosier views on sexual orientation and gender. Nonetheless, no reader of your newspaper can be surprised by your recent actions. Advocacy is what corporate editors do these days, in…

by John Kessler As a city councilman, you cannot address the questions on any agenda until you have decided the role of government: What should government do or not do? Economists, of course, have been thinking about this question for a long time. They can tell you two things that the government should do and a few that they shouldn’t. What the government should do falls into two categories: the “protective” function and the “productive”…

by Andrea Neal The most poignant moments in Indiana history have taken place under its dome and on its front steps. Suffragettes lobbied for the right to vote. Mourners filed past the casket of President Benjamin Harrison to pay last respects. Actress Carole Lombard raised the American flag and sold war bonds the day before her untimely death in a plane crash. Union members jammed the halls to protest repeal of a prevailing-wage law. From…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. In a debate between Republican presidential candidates, Bobby Jindal referred to those in the cart versus those pulling the cart. The extent to which some are willing and able to assume responsibilities affects families, neighborhoods and towns. For better or worse, taxable income continues as a priority for government officials responsible for balancing their budgets. We prefer that children and the severely limited remain sanguine with respect to their dependency. On…

by Robert Yadon, Ph.D., and Barry Umansky, J.D. Successful deployment of statewide broadband service is within reach for Indiana. However, the state must take a proactive, leadership stance to provide the necessary incentives to bring public and private resources together to reach this goal. Without a comprehensive state broadband strategic plan, each region would be left to the costly and time-consuming task of charting its own course independently. Within the framework of federal law, and…

The foundation’s white papers are intended to make scholarly research on Indiana issues more widely available to policy analysts and researchers. White papers represent research in progress and are published to invite comment and discussion as preparation for their submission to academic journals and other professional publications. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their research and analysis.   By Robert E. Yadon, Ph.D. and Barry D. Umansky, J.D.[1] Introduction Since 2006, Indiana…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. What is the key to prosperity for the state of Indiana and its counties and towns? Economist Adam Smith argued all that is necessary to raise a society to the highest level of “opulence” is “peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice.” If these conditions prevail, then prosperity will emerge “by the natural course of things.” The quote is from the 1755 lecture notes of his student Dugal Stewart.…

by Andrea Neal James Sidney Hinton, a Union Army veteran and Republican Party orator, was a 19th-century torchbearer for civil rights who became the first African American elected to the Indiana General Assembly. Hinton achieved this distinction during an era of sweeping social and political change – and at a time when blacks in the Hoosier state faced much of the same racial prejudice as those living in the South. Indiana’s 1816 Constitution prohibited slavery…