Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy

 

• Over the past 20 years, Delaware’s per capita income has gone from the highest in the nation to below the national average.

 

• According to the Delaware Department of Labor, employment is projected to grow at only 0.5% over the next decade, thereby trailing most of the nation.

 

• Since 2009, Delaware has had five recessions compared to one in the rest of the country.

 

• Including the variable Gross Receipts Tax, small business owners in Delaware often pay the highest personal income tax rates in America. 

 

In partnership with other like-minded Delaware organizations, the primary goals of this Center are to develop bi-partisan strategies and alternative policy options that will bring transparency, regulatory reform, and improved effectiveness to the tens of billions of dollars spent by the State every year.

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COVID and the Working Poor | 5/18/2020

As of this date there have been officially 290 COVID related deaths in Delaware out of a population of 982,000. This is a death rate of three one-hundred of one percent (.03%). There have been 7,870 confirmed COVID cases for an incidence rate of eight-tenth of one percent (.8%). The state gov...

Unemployment during COVID-19 | 5/12/2020

Officially, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), unemployment is the percent of the labor force that is actively looking for employment and cannot find it.   To be eligible for unemployment insuran...

A DE Recession? | 3/24/2020

What will be the impact of the Covid-19 virus on Delaware's economy?   There are two extreme views among economists regarding the U.S. economy. The first view anticipates a substantial recession similar to 2008-09. The second expects a severe dip in the second quarter of 2020 with a...

DE School Choice | 2/5/2020

According to the Wall Street Journal, Republican Ron DeSantis owes his gubernatorial victory in Florida to the support of about 100,000 African American women who were advocates for school choice. Of the roughly 650,000 black women who voted in the Florida election, 18% chose Mr. DeSantis. Could thi...

Development by the Numbers | 2/5/2020

If the objective of Delaware’s economic development efforts is jobs, the available data may provide a logic for allocating development resources.   Over any particular year, the net change in employment comes from business start-up and expansion minus business closures and contrac...

A Gross Tax | 1/25/2020

Delaware is one of just five states that levies a gross receipts tax (GRT). A GRT is an excise tax on the gross revenues of a company regardless of whether that company has profits or losses.   Public finance economists view the GRT as inefficient and unsound. It double or triple taxes bu...

Is Delaware losing its Spring? | 1/19/2020

According to the leading index calculated by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, Delaware can expect a contraction in the state’s economy in the second quarter of 2020. Is there any reason for concern?   Each month the Phila Fed estimates leading indexes for all the states and th...

The Sinkhole in the NCC Economy | 1/15/2020

It took New Castle County (NCC) until 2015 for employment to return to the high water mark hit in 2007. Since 2015 the NCC employment has only inched forward at 0.6% per annum. And the Delaware Department of Labor projects this modest growth rate to continue through 2026.   To his credit ...

A Research and Data Perspective on Delaware’s Minimum Wage | 1/5/2020

State Senator Darius Brown has proposed additional minimum wage increases on top of the increase from the last legislative session. These proposed increases are substantial, raising the Delaware minimum wage from $9.25 to $11.00 in 2020 and then adding $1.00 every year after until a $15.00 minimum w...

Delaware Productivity | 1/5/2020

Productivity is typically measured as the amount of output (the market value) of the goods or services each worker in an industry produces over a year.   Based upon output per worker or productivity, one can identify which industries will pay high wages and maintain competitive prices. Ob...