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With a budget battle about to begin, what does the data suggest as the direction Delaware should take?   Let’s start with a quick look back and compare the year 2005 to the year 2015.   Since 2005 Delaware has added a total of 12,000 jobs. This is an employment growth rate of three-tenths of a percent per year (0.3 percent). The unemployment rate has risen from 4.1 percent to 4.8 percent and the percent of the adult population participating in the labor force has dropped from

The state is moving forward on a Delaware Health Care Innovation Plan that to implement will involve a one time outlay of $160 million and $190 million annually for 10 years. The major components of the plan will include a health information exchange, a "holistic" approach to work force development, and a new Delaware Center for Health Care Innovation. A major justification for this government intervention is that Delaware spends almost 25% more than the national average on h

There is a general consensus that health care needs to be accessible, high quality and less costly. Improving the general health of all Delawareans is also an important goal. The way to reduce costs while maintaining or improving quality is to raise productivity. Economic theory shows that the best way to do that is to incentivize problem-solving, cost-cutting, innovative behavior by those closest to the problem: the patients and their doctors. Yet the plan outlined in Choose

If you live in Delaware and pay for health insurance, you will be paying hundreds or thousands of dollars more once 2016 arrives. Health premiums are set to rise by leaps and bounds next year, meaning less money in your pocket. Because CRI is committed to informing citizens about the impacts of the decisions the government makes, we took a look to see how the proposed rate rises are really going to affect you.   There are essentially two companies that provide health insuranc

Originally published December 8, 2015, at delawareonline.com and December 9 in The News Journal. The Indian River Power Plant in Millsboro is in the cross hairs for closure. NRG Corporation invested $360 million in air pollution control technology a few years ago and it is now tied for the cleanest burning coal plant in the country. NRG also closed three smaller generation units, reduced cooling water intake, and spent money capping a coal ash storage area. Despite these eff

This article first appeared at Delawareonline.com on November 18, 2015 , and in the News Journal November 19, 2015. As noted by The News Journal, a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity and Global integrity rated Delaware State Government as 48 th among the states in accountability and transparency.   On the face of it, this sounds like Delaware public officials might be trying to hide something. Perhaps, however, Delaware public officials exercise a level of int

This article originally appeared on Delawareonline.com on October 11, 2015 , and in the News Journal October 12, 2015.   Despite their coordinated public relations splash on The News Journal’s Opinion pages, both Sen. Coons and Gov. Markell demonstrated a surprising lack of knowledge on the subject of manufacturing. Current currency challenges aside, America can be attractive when competing for global manufacturing jobs. The country-decision, where to place a world-class man

The Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis has released the first quarter 2015 personal income data for Delaware and the changes since 2005 are striking.   Total personal income for Delawareans rose 39% over the latest 10 years. Adjusted for inflation, real personal income has averaged growth of 1.8% per year. Personal income grew 8.4% during the first year of the decade and 3.7% during the last year.     Of the components of Delaware personal income, transfer payments clearly l

CRI has joined a Freedom of Information Act request for disclosure of sources of grants given to University of Delaware Professor John Byrne for his work on climate change. Those paying attention to these issues will notice that our request merely followed in the footsteps of a request for similar information regarding UD’s Dr. David Legates. We replicated US Representative Raul Grijalva’s language nearly verbatim, hoping to place his move in perspective. As Delaware citizens