Articles

Hicks: We’ll spend more and more on health care

Like most Americans, I am confused by the ACA. I don’t have a spare couple of months to read it in its entirety, but am certain there are things about it I will like and some I will detest. On balance, though, it is increasingly clear that it will require Herculean fixes.

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Hicks: Incomes won’t rise until communities improve

Indiana has many fine communities with good schools and great local amenities. High-earning households are eager to live in these communities, and businesses flock there to obtain access to those workers and consumers. Indiana also has many poor communities with weak schools and few amenities. Households and businesses flee such places.

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Hicks: Blame labor’s collapse on its own successes

The decline of the American labor movement is startling. In only 50 years, membership has dropped 80 percent. No mainstream American institution of note has dissipated at this pace before. Today, more Americans receive disability payments than belong to private-sector unions.

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Hicks: Antitrust suit rests on decades of tradition

The attempt by the Department of Justice to block the merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways offers a glimpse into one of the great public policy innovations of the past couple of centuries: American anti-trust law.

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Hicks: Education debate shouldn’t matter to students

Higher education is undergoing a metamorphosis. Cost-saving measures such as online learning and the ubiquity of technology might seem to make today’s undergraduate experience vastly different from their forbears’. That is a mirage. The most essential elements of an education are unchanged.

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Hicks: Two excellent choices for Bernanke successor

A great debate under way regarding the successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke seems to come down to economists Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen. The debate is full of interesting insight but it’s the immediate challenges of the Fed that matter more.

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Economic growth better than expected in 2nd quarter

U.S. economic growth accelerated in the April-June quarter to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.7 percent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said the rate released Wednesday was based on incomplete data and would be revised over the next month.

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Hicks: China’s economy colliding into great wall

For more than three decades, China’s economy has dazzled observers, with annual growth frequently sneaking into double digits. But the wide-eyed narrative of boundless wealth that has accompanied this growth is suffering a couple of hiccups.

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Hicks: Manufacturing turns out remarkably good news

I am always reluctant to fill this column with my recent research, but last week’s release of the annual Conexus Manufacturing Scorecard begs comment. Indiana did much better in the cost of worker benefits and continued to lead in the size of manufacturing and logistics. Indiana also ranked third in the pace of manufacturing recovery […]

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Hicks: Attractive places help Indiana grow faster

I am often asked to explain why more and better local amenities matter to job creation. It is a simple concept, really. Families make choices about where to live based upon a variety of factors, including playgrounds, safe and attractive neighborhoods, and recreational activities. They will sacrifice to obtain these things, commute long distances and even forgo higher wages.

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