By Giovanna da Silva On September 16, Category 5 Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Maria set the record as the strongest hurricane to hit the island in 89 years. With millions of displaced Puerto Ricans desperately in need of basic essentials, such as oil, food, … Continue reading Jones Act Protectionism Hinders Puerto Rican Recovery Efforts
Hurricane Response Efforts are Most Effective When Decentralized
By Chad Thomas According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), emergency responses to hurricanes aim to prevent further loss of life and property damage. Effective emergency responses utilize local information and enable decentralized responses from within the disaster zone. Local information about necessary relief in affected areas aids response efforts. A decentralized response enables … Continue reading Hurricane Response Efforts are Most Effective When Decentralized
Government Consolidation Rarely Lives Up to Promises
By Matt Kelly Government consolidation is an often-touted solution to economic and social problems in American cities. Several initiatives to combine local governments have resulted in conjoined regional governments, including Indianapolis-Marion County (IN), Athens-Clarke County (GA), and Jacksonville-Duval County (FL). Tallahassee and Leon County have seen six campaigns for consolidation over 50 years, all of … Continue reading Government Consolidation Rarely Lives Up to Promises
Regulators Adapt to the Sharing Economy
By Matt Kelly The so-called “sharing economy” has revolutionized the way people travel, lodge, eat, and work through companies such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and OpenTable. Buyers and sellers are increasingly transacting on online platforms that use a mix of demand pricing, reputation mechanisms, and computer algorithms to match users. This innovation represents a dramatic challenge … Continue reading Regulators Adapt to the Sharing Economy
New Policy Brief Critical of Florida’s Economic Development System
By Matt Kelly A new DeVoe L. Moore Center policy brief criticizes Florida's economic development system. Targeted industry incentives have played a prominent role in the economic development strategies of state governments for decades. In the late 1970s and 1980s, enterprise zones and tax incentives were seen as an appealing “market-oriented” alternative to New Deal … Continue reading New Policy Brief Critical of Florida’s Economic Development System
Preparing Florida’s Government Policy for The Next Big Hurricane
by Chad Thomas Political and economic conditions in New Orleans before 2005 left the city unprepared for Hurricane Katrina. The government bureaucracies responsible for levee maintenance were mismanaged and corrupt officials diverted needed funds. Weak economic performance before Katrina also set up affected areas for slow recovery afterward. New Orleans’ experience shows how government can … Continue reading Preparing Florida’s Government Policy for The Next Big Hurricane
New Overtime Rules Blocked For Now, But Uncertainty Weighs on Businesses
By Matt Kelly CLOCK IN TIME: 6:10pm Work in the United States may be about to change. The Department of Labor (DOL) has updated overtime rules relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act, and some changes could have a big impact on businesses’ labor costs. The rules were set to take effect on December 1, … Continue reading New Overtime Rules Blocked For Now, But Uncertainty Weighs on Businesses
Despite Problems, Florida’s Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund is Best Performing Incentive
By Marisa Lupica The Qualified Target Industry (QTI) tax refund is offered to attract high wage jobs in target industries to Florida. The program is administered by the Department of Economic Opportunity, Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI), and the Department of Revenue. Among Florida’s tax incentive programs, QTI is the largest and has the highest return … Continue reading Despite Problems, Florida’s Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund is Best Performing Incentive
The Per Business Regulatory Burden: Ranking Florida’s Local Governments
By Matt Kelly and Tyler Worthington The dramatic increase in federal government regulation has been well documented by economists and journalists, as has its detrimental effects on economic growth. The DeVoe Moore Center has constructed assorted measures of state and local regulatory restrictiveness. This article focused on revenues collected per business on the local level … Continue reading The Per Business Regulatory Burden: Ranking Florida’s Local Governments
Community Redevelopment Agencies
By Casey Barr Local governments face the perennial dilemma of obtaining money to fund community redevelopment projects. Requesting state or federal funds can be an arduous bureaucratic process, and these funds are often awarded to larger, more prominent cities, ignoring smaller towns where need is arguably greater. Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs) allow local governments to … Continue reading Community Redevelopment Agencies
Gender Wage Gap in Florida
By Tyler Worthington, Tian Ma, and Igor Lukashevich One of the hottest topics in the 2016 presidential race is income inequality. Income inequality between the genders has been of particular interest. According to the White House, full-time working women are paid 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man. However, the labor market in … Continue reading Gender Wage Gap in Florida
Measuring Success and Failure in Public Transportation: The Case of Sunrail
By Santiago Arango In May, SunRail, Orlando’s commuter rail system, celebrated its first year of operation and was awarded a $93 million federal grant. Phase II of SunRail’s construction will add four more stations and 17.2 miles of rail into neighboring Osceola County within two years. Orlando is the 4th fastest growing city in … Continue reading Measuring Success and Failure in Public Transportation: The Case of Sunrail
The Foundations of Political Capitalism
By Matt Kelly Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century raised quite a stir last year among economists. Piketty identifies rising wealth inequality as inherent in capitalism, and recommends a worldwide wealth tax to temper its effects. Many have taken issue with Piketty’s data and analysis, and the idea that inequality is rising at all … Continue reading The Foundations of Political Capitalism
Florida’s Franchise Laws are Holding Back Craft Beer
By Matt Kelly While legislators and beer enthusiasts across Florida attempt to lift a 50-year-old ban on growlers (64 oz. containers of beer), many are ignoring a key aspect of this controversial policy issue: franchise termination laws. Franchise law regulates contracts between beer manufacturers--breweries--(the franchisors) and distributors (the franchisees). Florida’s franchise laws, however, currently give … Continue reading Florida’s Franchise Laws are Holding Back Craft Beer
New Study Sheds Light on Property Taxes in Florida
By Matt Kelly A new study by DeVoe Moore Eminent Scholar Keith Ihlanfeldt and economist Kevin Willardsen explores property taxes in Florida. The authors challenge the conventional wisdom that governments only consider the “public interest” when writing their budgets and setting tax rates. With property taxes accounting for 31% of Florida’s total revenues, understanding how … Continue reading New Study Sheds Light on Property Taxes in Florida
New Study Tests the Merits of Surge Pricing
By Matt Kelly As Uber, Lyft and other “ridesharing” services continue to revolutionize the urban transportation landscape, more complaints are surfacing questioning the efficiency and fairness of the innovative services they provide. One of the more recent is “surge pricing,” the idea that services provided during peak periods carry a higher charge or fee. A … Continue reading New Study Tests the Merits of Surge Pricing
Overbearing Licensing of Farm Labor Contractors
Original post date: September 25, 2014 Article by: Dan Davy According to a recent Institute for Justice study, Florida has the fourth most burdensome occupational licensure laws in the nation. One of the many occupations Florida licenses is farm labor contracting. A farm labor contractor is anyone who employs other farm workers for a third party or furnishes employees … Continue reading Overbearing Licensing of Farm Labor Contractors
Florida Workers Would Suffer from Minimum Wage Increase
Original post date: September 10, 2014 Article by: Matt Kelly 6/9/2023 Edits: Some links that were no longer working have been fixed. As Floridians nurse their Labor Day sunburns, it’s worth remembering the twentieth century labor movement’s legacies. Chief among them is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a federal law that established the … Continue reading Florida Workers Would Suffer from Minimum Wage Increase
Why do Workers Support The Minimum Wage?
Original post date: February 03, 2014 Article by: Ben Douglas One of the more peculiar political phenomena of our time is the widespread support of minimum wage laws among unskilled labor, particularly service workers in low-wage industries such as hotels, restaurants, and retail shops. This is likely to increase with President Obama’s push to increase … Continue reading Why do Workers Support The Minimum Wage?