A new study for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University uses an economic model that examines regulation’s effect on firms’ investment choices. Using a 22-industry dataset that covers 1977 through 2012, the study finds that regulation—by distorting the investment choices that lead to innovation—has created a considerable drag on the economy, amounting to an average reduction in the annual growth rate of the US gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.8 percent.
The Milken Institute’s fourth annual California Summit provided an opportunity to assemble prominent state leaders in business, policy, philanthropy, and academia to address the issues facing the world’s seventh-largest economy and one of the most diverse populations on the globe. Held December 8, 2015, at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, the Summit focused on four key areas that define many of the challenges facing the state: the business climate; the need for opportunities in finance and access to capital, including financial technology; investment in the state’s infrastructure, particularly involving water; and the need to maintain and grow the culture of innovation.
New sources of labor should be top of mind for CEOs as they contemplate protracted labor shortages. These shortages will hit most industries, pinching profits and prolonging the economic slowdown. . . An unprecedented confluence of trends—historically low productivity growth and massive baby boomer retirements—has set the stage for shortages that will hit across regions and industries.
While the most current complete tax data from the Franchise Tax Board is for 2013, the recently published zip code data enables some preliminary analysis for the 2014 receipts. By region, 40.3% of PIT revenues came from the Bay Area. More importantly, 51.2% of the increased PIT revenues in 2014 came from this region, once again illustrating how much California is reliant on a single region not only for continued jobs and employment growth, but the continued health of the state’s fiscal situation. Los Angeles, with 30% of the population, was the next largest region, paying 27.5% of total PIT and a 25.5% share of the increased PIT receipts. In the absence of state policies that promote more balanced and geographically dispersed jobs growth, California’s finances will likely continue to be reliant on the economic health of one region.
In total, the study covers 564 state and local systems in the United States that reported $1.91 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities under GASB 67 in FY 2014. The analysis reveals that, despite well-performing markets from 2009 to 2014, state and local government pension systems are underwater by $3.4 trillion and that the true cost of keeping pension liabilities from rising is 17.5 percent of state and local budgets. Even contributions of those magnitudes would not begin to pay down the trillions of dollars of unfunded legacy liabilities; they would simply stop the unfunded liability from rising.
This study deconstructs software in San Diego beyond the region’s software publishers and IT firms, and displays how the technology is changing the landscape of all types of innovation in San Diego.
The State of California added 19,600 private sector jobs during the month of March
The proposed spending is more than double the $3.09 billion in cap-and-trade auction spending included in Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, and comes at a time when the spending of auction revenue is under scrutiny. The auctions are generating billions of dollars a year for programs that are unrelated to those who are required to pay, but the process was not approved by a two-thirds majority of lawmakers, as the California Constitution requires for tax increases.
The proposed minimum wage expansion (SB 3) contains two triggers under which a governor may—but is not required to—delay a programmed minimum wage increase by one year. These provisions are intended to mitigate state budget costs in the event of a future recession, which Governor Brown repeatedly and most recently in the January Proposed Budget has warned as being “an event not too far off given the historic pattern of the ten recessions that have occurred since 1945.”
The Latino population in Los Angeles County continues to grow robustly while, simultaneously, experiencing income growth. Put these two together and the County and big business benefit from a rapidly growing consumer base. Indeed, from 2000 to 2014, the number of Latinos in the County grew by 15.5%, compared to a 1.1% decline in the rest of the population. Meanwhile, the aggregate income among Latino head-of-households grew from $45.9 billion to $72.4 billion in 2014
California State Controller Betty T. Yee today issued the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, showing that a resurgent economy led to a $29.6 billion increase in revenues in the 2014-15 fiscal year. While spending and transfers also went up, the increases were not enough to offset the additional revenue, resulting in a $13.1 billion improvement in governmental activities’ net position. . . This CAFR incorporates major changes to reflect the state’s net pension liability. Based on guidance from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), the new figure more accurately reflects a government’s unfunded pension obligation, helping policymakers decide on future funding strategies. Using these standards, the CAFR reports a net pension liability of $63.7 billion as of June 30, 2015.
The Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy, published annually since 1997, is the premier fact-based benchmark for measuring the performance of the Massachusetts knowledge economy.
Economic Report of the President and Annual Reprot of the Council of Economic Advisors.
California’s current housing market suffers from a shortage of supply and the lingering effects of the housing crash and the Great Recession. California currently ranks near the bottom in terms of its supply of housing relative to population growth. Add that to the increasing demand to live near the coast, to be close to tech hubs, and to be near downtowns, and it’s not too surprising that home prices throughout the state continue to rise. Additionally, the cost of development and stringent regulations imposed on developers has contributed to the lack of homebuilding in California.
In recent years, California has experienced negative domestic migration, meaning more people are moving from California to other states than the number of residents moving to California from other parts of the country. Statistics on the characteristics of California’s inbound and outbound migrants suggest patterns in migration over the past decade are more related to housing costs than tax structure.