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

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

The primary purpose of the Caesar Rodney Institute is to improve Delaware’s economy through state policy reform. We expect this effort to lead to more and better jobs. For some of our citizens, work is not a possibility and they need assistance to get by.  Recently we helped create a new program to help more low-income homeowners obtain assistance in making their homes more energy efficient to lower their energy bills.   The Delaware Health and Human Services Department estim