State Budget
How to Balance the PA State Budget
Key Points Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural deficit in fiscal year (FY) 2024–25. Unless addressed, the deficit will require massive tax increases on working families by next year. Extreme…
Backgrounder
Read More: How to Balance the PA State BudgetEducation
The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education Failures
Key Points The cost and risk of failure in our K–12 system is high. Low academic achievement is a predictor of lower lifetime incomes and higher costs for taxpayers. On…
Backgrounder
Read More: The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education FailuresPublic Union Democracy
With Unions, the Numbers Tell the Story
Originally published at Townhall Newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows union membership rates fell nationwide last year, continuing a yearslong trend. BLS’s union…
Media Hit
Read More: With Unions, the Numbers Tell the StoryRegulation
Cutting Red Tape in Pennsylvania
This report presents findings from Mercatus Center’s State RegData database, analyzing regulations in the Pennsylvania Code as of 2022. The report provides an overview of state regulations, how Pennsylvania’s regulatory…
Executive Summary
Read More: Cutting Red Tape in PennsylvaniaRegulation
How Pa. Can Show it is Open for Business
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy is performing poorly with high unemployment, low labor force participation, and lackluster job growth. Roughly 40,000 residents left the state last year because of poor economic conditions…
Fact Sheet
Read More: How Pa. Can Show it is Open for BusinessTaxes & Economy
Minimum Wage
Summary One percent of Pennsylvania workers earn the minimum wage, an all-time low.Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Recent analysis by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Minimum WageTaxes & Economy
Tearing Down Barriers to Prosperity: How More Economic Freedom Can Reduce Poverty and Boost Prosperity in Pennsylvania
Key Findings Economic freedom, specifically lower government spending, strongly and consistently offers both increases in prosperity and reductions in poverty.States that gained economic freedom from 2010 to 2019 tend to…
Executive Summary
Read More: Tearing Down Barriers to Prosperity: How More Economic Freedom Can Reduce Poverty and Boost Prosperity in PennsylvaniaEnergy
Assessing Gov. Tom Wolf’s Tenure
Key Points During Gov. Tom Wolf’s eight years in office, Pennsylvania ranked below the national average in income growth, job growth, and population growth.State government spending increased significantly under Wolf,…
Backgrounder
Read More: Assessing Gov. Tom Wolf’s TenureWelfare
Pa’s Wayward Welfare State
Summary Policies that expanded Medicaid eligibility to healthy, working-aged people and do not require the verification of eligibility have expanded the size and complexity of a program designed to focus…
Fact Sheet
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