On Jan. 14, Gov. Jack Markell issued an executive order establishing the DEFAC (Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Committee) “Advisory Council on Revenue.” The primary charge to the council is to evaluate whether the state’s principal revenue sources are adequate and appropriately responsive to economic growth, i.e., generating enough money to maintain the state’s desired level of spending.     There is no charge to the council to explore effective and efficient ways t

Delaware Business Times edition "Economy Watch," January 6, 2015. Dr. John Stapleford's article, "Delaware's Economic Outlook," is on Pages 4-5. He summarizes 2014 state economic data and makes projections for 2015.

This article originally appeared in the News Journal and at delawareonline.com . The total inflation adjusted output of goods and services in Delaware rose a mere 0.6% over the past 10 years. This contrasts to 8.2% in Pennsylvania, 16.6% in New York, 34.3% in Texas, and 12.1% across the nation. What accounts for Delaware's poor performance? The simple answer appears to be the industry mix in Delaware compared to these other states. With one exception, the output in all the De

Overall, Delaware has the 14 th best 2015 business tax climate according to the Tax Foundation. Even more important, as jobs are far more likely to move between contiguous states, Delaware’s tax climate is far better than surrounding states in the region ( see the tabe available in the download link below ). Delaware’s high ranking is due primarily to the absence of a sales tax and consistently low property taxes. Compared to sales tax rates of 6% in Maryland and Pennsylvani

Liberty Foundation of Oklahoma ( http://libertyfound.org/ ) today released data on the labor force participation rates from 1999 through 2013 for all states. The trends in Delaware are disturbing (click on the link below for the depressing statistics).   The participation in the labor force by Delaware residents has been on a long downward spiral. Using the last 10 years of complete data (2002-12) Delawares total labor force participation rate has fallen 5.8%.   Reflecting th

A recent report from the Mercatus Center uses fourteen metrics to assess whether states can meet their short-term bills and long-term obligations. Delaware is poorly positioned with regards to its long-term obligations.   The analysis in the report is based upon FY 2013 data from the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) produced uniformly by every state according to criterion mandated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.   All the CAFR financial statements

In a May 2012 report the Institute for Justice ranked all the states with regards to barriers to entry to low- and moderate-income occupations. Delaware had the 42 nd most burdensome licensing laws and was the 25 th most extensively and onerously licensed state. The report documents the license requirements for 102 low- and moderate-income occupations—such as barber, massage therapist and preschool teacher—across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.   It finds that o

Since Delaware has had 15 consecutive years of conservative governors followed by 18 years of progressive governors, it is an interesting case study. Do the differences in the governance philosophies have consequences for Delaware’s economy?   A simple answer to this question is to consider the differences in the major measures of economic performance for Delaware between these two time periods. While this simple approach doesn’t control for all intervening factors, both peri

The April, 2012 labor market data for Delaware has just been released and the numbers are not encouraging. Compared to April of 2008, four years ago, total employment in Delaware is down by 20,000. Construction jobs are down 40%, manufacturing off 22%, and finance jobs down 6%. Government, of course, is up 2%. Although compared to four years ago the civilian labor force in Delaware is off by 5,000 people, the number of folks unemployed is up by 68%.   Real (inflation-adjusted