Center for Analysis of Delaware's Economy & Government Spending

Delaware state governmental policies have been an unfortunate catalyst for the decline of Delaware’s economy for far too long. For instance…

Over the past 10 years, both the Delaware per capita income and average wage have gone from above the national average to below.

According to the Delaware Department of Labor, employment is projected to grow at only 0.6%.

Since 2009, Delaware has had five recessions compared to one in the nation.

By opposing choice in public education, the State government reinforces a system where two-thirds of Delaware students are not proficient in reading and math. In addition to the ramifications for Delaware’s students and their future employability, as has been widely reported, one of the other most evident outcomes is the number of professionals with school-age children who work in Delaware but choose to reside out of state.

Misguided environmental policies have driven industrial electric rates well above neighboring states’ rates, creating the documented exodus of manufacturing jobs to other states and an impediment to developing new, well-paying manufacturing jobs.

Utilizing publicly available data, voluminous research from respected academic institutions, and federal and state resources, CRI is the only non-profit entity in Delaware that is objectively identifying the regressive outcomes of certain state policies and disseminating those damaging ramifications to not only county and state legislators but also the public.

In partnership with other like-minded organizations, the primary goals of this Center are to develop strategies and alternative policy options that will bring transparency - and changes - to the State’s $9 billion budget process while objectively advocating for regulatory reform.

Co-Director Charlie Copeland has an MBA from Duke University with a focus in Finance and spent over 25 years growing a marketing services business that achieved several global awards for operational excellence. He also spent six years in the Delaware State Senate, serving his last two years as the Senate Minority Leader. Charlie, who focused much of his Senate career on education reform and government accountability, remains a sought-after speaker on issues related to governmental accountability.

Dr. John Stapleford's Presidential Address | 11/28/2018

Dr. John Stapleford, taking over as CRIs new President, spoke to Dace Blaskovitz on "Money and Politics in Delaware" about his new role as CRIs president and on what was going on with the states economy. The show airs Saturdays from 9-10 on WILM.com 1450 AM and WDOV.com 1410 AM. Cli...

Delaware's Disappearing Labor Force | 11/28/2018

The 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 b...

Delaware's Economic Outlook for 2015 | 11/28/2018

The attached article appeared in the Delaware Business Times edition January 6, 2015. Johns article is on Pages 4-5. He summarizes 2014 state economic data and makes projections for 2015.
PDF Doc

The reason Delaware's retail industry... | 11/28/2018

Retail trade in northern Delaware seems to be in a funk. Between 2007 and 2014 total inflation-adjusted retail sales in New Castle County decreased 11%. Retail trade employment is down by over 7% and the total number of retail trade establishments has dropped by almost 11%. What explains this...

A Review of Gabel Associates, Inc. Report | 11/23/2018

A Review of Gabel Associates, Inc. Report, “Benefit Cost Analysis for Electric Vehicle Adoption in the Delaware DPL Territory” David T. Stevenson, Policy Director November 23, 2018 Revised 12/12/2018 WWW.CaesarRodney.org Tabl...

A smarter economic pathway for Delaware | 2/19/2016

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 r...

Government integrity in Delaware | 11/19/2015

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 48th among the states in accountability...

Reviving Delaware Manufacturing | 10/12/2015

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...

If Delaware Adopts a Sales Tax... | 1/1/2015

Overall, Delaware has the 14th 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 ...

Why is Delaware's output flat? | 1/1/2015

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 nati...