Category: Demographics
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IG of the Day: Staying Put
Geographic mobility within the United States has been declining steadily since the late 1980s. Only 11.6 percent of U.S. residents moved between 2010 and 2011, down from 12.5 percent the previous year. It was the lowest rate since 1948. William H. Frey with the Brookings Institution attributes that decline to two broad factors. First, long-distance…
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Art for Economic Development’s Sake
by James A. Bacon Forget about art for art’s sake. Let’s talk about art for economic development’s sake. A couple of days ago I lauded the City of Richmond’s efforts to create a downtown arts district. (See “Richmond’s Wine-and-Brie Path to Community Development.”) I was thinking mainly in terms of the effect that a cluster…
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The Wonk Salon, October 18-19, 2011
Dealing with Diversity in Virginia Center for American Progress Think tank sponsors roundtable discussion about increasing ethnic diversity in Northern Virginia. Government Workers Are Almost as Unprepared for Retirement as the Rest of Us Center for Retirement Research Thanks to generous pension benefits, state and local government workers tend to be less unprepared financially for…
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Virginia’s Brain Drain
by James A. Bacon California has a lot of problems, including a dysfunctional political system, structural budget deficits and a lousy business climate. But it’s still a magnet for some of the world’s most talented scientists and engineers. According to a new Milken Institute study, “What Brain Drain? California among the Best in the U.S.…
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Yet Another Mongolian Crossroads
By Peter Galuszka (Third in a series) ULAN BAATOUR, Mongolia — Flying into this capital city nestled among treeless, light brown mountains brought back memories of a grimy, industrial Soviet city from 30 years ago. Along the tarmac are rows of cannibalized Antonov 2 biplanes used as crop dusters after World War II along with…
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The Old Boy’s Still Around
By Peter Galuszka (first of a series) BEIJING, China — Red and gold emblems flap around Tiananmen Square in celebration of 62 years of the People’s Republic of China. This holiday, the sprawling square area is thronged with Chinese families of all ages on this warm and sunny fall afternoon. I am here on a…
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Map of the Day: Income Gained, Lost from Migration
This map from the Tax Foundation shows the annual income gained or lost due to interstate migration between 1999 and 2009. The biggest winner was Florida by a country mile, followed by Arizona, Texas and North Carolina. Bottom line: If your state was attractive to retirees, you bolstered your income. The big losers: New York,…
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Killing Virginia’s Golden Goose
By Peter Galuszka Will Virginia end up killing the goose that has laid its golden egg? With apologies to Aesop, it is the most pressing economic question the Old Dominion faces. The golden egg, of course, is the federal government whose jobs continually prop up the state work rolls and help the flow of state…
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Chart of the Day: Growth in High-Income Taxpayers
The Tax Foundation has conducted an interesting exercise: tracking the growth in the number of high-income tax payers (making more than $200,000 per year) between 1999 and 2009 and adjusting for growth in the number of taxpayers generally. North Dakota made the top of the list, presumably benefiting from the natural resource boom in the…