Understanding Society

How does a rust belt city relaunch itself? How can the stakeholders of Detroit, Cleveland, or Milwaukee begin to reinvent their cities and ...

There is a very strong impulse in many state legislatures to cut taxes, no matter what the cost is to the state's ability to provide ess...

The Mackinac Policy Conference brings forward something new this year -- optimism. The state of Michigan has been hammered in the past eig...

Poverty in the United States has increased measurably in the past ten years, and this is particularly visible in the state of Michigan. (Her...

What is a fair level of taxation for businesses in a state? How much should businesses pay relative to individuals in supporting the service...

The issues that almost all large American metropolitan regions and cities are facing are important and messy. Here is a short list: racial ...

It would be very interesting if we had something we might call an "opportunity index" that could be applied to young children to...

When does a society need a process of "truth and reconciliation" along the lines of such processes in South Africa, El Salvador, ...

Olivier Blanchard and Lawrence Katz did an important empirical study of regional adjustment to employment shock in 1992 ( link ). Here is th...

Earlier posts have raised the possibility that Michigan's jobs crisis will lead to significant population loss ( link , link , link ). ...

The Detroit Regional Chamber Leadership Conference at Mackinac has come and gone. Leaders from all sectors in Southeast Michigan participa...

It is hard to think of an American city that is doing really well these days.  Dense urban poverty in the core, super-high rates of unempl...

New Detroit ( link ) and Wayne State University are putting on a major and significant conference on how the story of Detroit is being told...