Various signs point to the beginning of the recovery in Delawares economy. The road back, however, is steep. Among the indicators of revival, the monthly change in Delawares leading economic indicator has finally turned positive, joining Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The latest Fraser Institute ranking places Delaware number one among the states in economic freedom.

The most recent data from the Tax Foundation shows that Delaware is driving out wealthy residents by raising its state and local tax burden.   Every year the Tax Foundation calculates each state-local tax burden as a percentage of the state’s per capita income. Since 2001 Delaware’s tax burden has risen from 8.1% (40 th lowest among the states) to 9.6% in 2009 (23 rd among the states). Since the research literature shows that over time households vote with their feet, a ris

Caesar Rodney Institute briefs the constitutionality of the health care individual mandate before the U.S. Supreme Court   On February 13, 2012, the Caesar Rodney Institute filed an amicus curiae or “friend of the court” brief with the U. S. Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in, Department of Health & Human Services, et. al., v. State of Florida, et. al.  As with our prior briefs

The 2010 ranking of 610 four year degree granting institutions of higher education from Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity is out. How did the University of Delaware fare? The Forbes rankings of “America’s Best Colleges” are based upon output measures such as post-graduate success, competitive awards, and the four-year graduation rate. The University of Delaware ranks 218. It is necessary to put this ranking in context. As with other large public

The latest data on state to state migration confirms that folks vote rationally with their feet and that Delaware legislators are in denial about this fact.   Census data shows that two-thirds of the net migrants into Delaware from 2007-09 came from just four states: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Not surprisingly, these states have among the highest tax burdens, strong unions, and sluggish economies.   Two-thirds of the net out-migrants from Delaware w

An analysis on the upward trend of personal income and estate taxation.

In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled on a series of cases, cumulatively decided as Florida, et al., v. Department of Health and Social Services and concluded that the ACA was a tax and thus was constitutional. At that time Obamacare supporters were very happy and Obamacare opponents were furious with the Supreme Court for twisting their logic like a pretzel to find the ACA constitutional as a “tax”.   Fast-forward three years later and another case is being heard in front of the S

After two decades of stellar performance, Delaware’s economy moved in reverse during the most recent decade, and the near term outlook is subpar.   A DECADE OF DECLINE   The major measures of performance for the Delaware economy from 2000 through 2010 are grim. Compared to a median annual growth in total employment of 2.5% during the 1990s, Delaware crept along at 0.4% during 2000-10. If government jobs are excluded, total employment in Delaware actually retreated -5.4%. Simi

The news is that the rollout of Obamacare is a disaster, and by any measure widely known it is just that, a screw-up. Do you remember Ali getting destroyed by Frasier in the first few rounds? The strategy became known as Rope-a-Dope. Ali won. We can learn from Ali and history. This "failure" of Obamacare is nothing of the sort. It is brilliant and successful.   One must judge the progress by the stated end goals. Barrack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, as well as both Ra