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.

Is Amazon amazing? | 11/28/2018

Amazon recently announced the addition of 500 jobs at its Fulfillment (distribution) Center in Middletown, bringing the total of year round jobs at the site to 2,500. Is this commitment amazing? On a macro level it is not. Over the past five years Amazon has been one of the fast growing...

IMPLICATIONS OF A RIGHT TO WORK LAW FOR DELAWARE | 11/28/2018

There are many factors a business chooses when deciding where to locate or to relocate: tax rates, quality of life, quality of education system, government regulatory burden, and now for manufacturing businesses, whether a state has a Right to Work (RTW) law or not. Proving that RTW is ...

A smarter economic pathway for Delaware | 11/28/2018

This article was originally printed in the Delaware State News on February 19, 2016. COMMENTARY: A smarter economic pathway for Delaware February 19, 2016 · by Dace J. Blaskovitz and Dr. John E. Stapleford With a budget battle about to begin, what does the data suggest as t...

If Delaware Adopts a Sales Tax... | 11/28/2018

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 ...

Government integrity in Delaware | 11/28/2018

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 accountabi...

Reviving Delaware Manufacturing | 11/28/2018

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...

State Regulatory Burdens: How Does Delaware Compare? | 11/28/2018

The recovery from the 2008-2009 recession has been the longest and weakest since WWII. Typically an upswing in domestic real investment initiates a recovery. The two main components of real investment are residential housing and nonresidential (business) investment. The bursting of the housing bubbl...

High Electric Prices Hurt Economic Growth | 11/28/2018

This article was originally published on October 28, 2014 on the website InsideSources.com. This article is reprinted in its entirely with permission. Economic research on the impact of energy prices on economic growth has focused largely on the volatility of the price of oil, which has tri...

New Castle Co, Wilmington economic plans are a good start | 11/28/2018

This article originally appeared in The News Journal as a Delaware Voice opinion editorial on November 18, 2014. The link is: http://delonline.us/1p1urFA New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon and Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams are to be congratulated for allowing consultants to produce ...

How is the state paying so much overtime? | 11/28/2018

Caesar Rodneys Transparent Delaware website has been updated to include state employee payroll data through 2013. An initial pass at the latest data continues to raise the question as to why the State of Delaware government doe...