By ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl From reading groups and guest speakers, to professional development for educators and media mentions by the White House, ACRE has had another successful semester of economics, education, and policy research. We hope you’ve been able to come to one of our events on campus, or read some of our many materials online. Distinguished Speaker Series & Colloquium Michael Munger (right) with Jeremy Horpedahl Our final guest speaker for the Fall 2023 semester was Michael Munger from Duke University, who gave a public talk on “Monopoly Power, Political Power, and t ..read more

By Aahna Combs The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) welcomes Heidi Saliba and Elise Ormonde as two new, dynamic team members. These gifted people offer a multitude of expertise, a variety of skill sets, and a common enthusiasm for improving not only Arkansas’s economic climate but the lives of all individuals who reside here as well. Heidi Saliba: A Multidisciplinary Asset Saliba comes to ACRE with a multifaceted background and is set to focus on occupational licensing and property rights. Her current projects include collaborating with Dr. Rania al-Bawwab to explore the econo ..read more

2023 Colloquium attendees By Terra Aquia, Educational Programs Manager The ACRE Colloquium brings together students and faculty from universities across the state of Arkansas. Attendees spend a weekend reading and discussing economic topics from collections of primary & secondary sources. The 2023 Colloquium program was organized by Dr. Wendy Lucas, History Chair and Professor at the University of Central Arkansas, and held at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on October 13-15. The topic for the weekend was Creating and Categorizing Race.  David Bernstein and colloquium attendees ..read more

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics continued its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a presentation from Dr. Emily Hamilton on October 26. Dr. Hamilton is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her research focuses on urban economics, land use policy, and housing affordability. She is often asked to testify before various state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives to share her expertise on these topics. Emily Hamilton and ACRE Dir ..read more

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator UCA students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions and a presentation by Dr. Bart J. Wilson on his upcoming book, Meaningful Economics. The reading group program has provided students with the chance to investigate economics beyond the classroom and how it relates to thi ..read more

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator David Bernstein and ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl The  Arkansas Center for Research in Economics kicked off its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a lecture from Professor David E. Bernstein. Professor Bernstein holds a University Professorship chair at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. During his public lecture, he shared work and research from his newest book, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America. In the discussion with reference to his book, Bernstein outl ..read more

By Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Arkansans have seen multiple reductions to their taxes, especially income taxes, in recent years. Starting from a top income tax rate of 7 percent a decade ago, income tax rates have gradually been reduced. The top individual income tax rate has already been lowered to 4.4 percent, and there have been other changes made to reduce income taxes for lower-income Arkansans (who don’t pay that top rate) as well. What has been the effect of all those changes? And what are the next steps for tax reform in Arkansas? In our lat ..read more

As I mentioned in the newsletter we sent out at the beginning of this week, the Extraordinary Session of the Arkansas General Assembly would likely happen very quickly. It did move quickly, though it lasted about one day longer than most legislators expected. And that’s where it got interesting. The newsletter from Monday also talked about the balance between different policy goals that all governments must strike. When it came to the balance between the public’s right to know what their government is doing and concerns about safety and efficiency, many legislators and members of the public th ..read more

By Joyce O. Ajayi and Joseph Johns On Friday, September 8, 2023, Governor Sarah Sanders announced that a special session would begin at the Arkansas Capitol on Monday, September 11. In her announcement of the special session, the Governor hinted at potential amendments to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (AFOIA). She specifically mentioned a desire to protect “internal deliberations within the executive branch” from public scrutiny, citing concerns for both her personal safety and that of her family. These concerns stemmed from credible death threats that arose during her gubernatorial ..read more