Author Archives: timbartik

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About timbartik

Tim Bartik is a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a non-profit and non-partisan research organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His research specializes in state and local economic development policies and local labor markets.

Improving evaluation of economic development programs

Posted on April 30, 2012 by timbartik

The Pew Center on the States recently released a major study analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of what states are currently doing to assess their tax incentives for economic development. (I should disclose that I reviewed an advance copy of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Economic development, Incentive design issues | Comments Off on Improving evaluation of economic development programs

Making the case for pre-K: some fiscal and economic arithmetic

Posted on April 6, 2012 by timbartik

Andrew Rotherham has an April 5th Time magazine column with the ominous title, “Are Pre-K Programs About To Get Gutted?” Mr. Rotherham apparently has access to an advance copy of the forthcoming annual report on state preschool programs from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local, Timing of benefits | Comments Off on Making the case for pre-K: some fiscal and economic arithmetic

Preschool is a cost-effective way of improving school readiness that can be implemented on a large scale

Posted on March 20, 2012 by timbartik

Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution has a just-released paper (March 19, 2012) that provides valuable comparisons of preschool versus other methods of increasing school readiness, at kindergarten entrance, for children from low-income families. The backdrop to this paper is … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Preschool is a cost-effective way of improving school readiness that can be implemented on a large scale

Responding to six arguments of skeptics of early childhood programs

Posted on March 9, 2012 by timbartik

I recently gave two lengthy presentations on early childhood programs in Grand Haven, Michigan and Newaygo County, Michigan.  My draft speech, which goes for 8 pages, is here. The PowerPoint accompanying this speech is at the link at the bottom … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits | Comments Off on Responding to six arguments of skeptics of early childhood programs

Who benefits from higher skills?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by timbartik

Catherine Rampell of the New York Times has a good article this morning on state budget cuts to higher education. The article raises broader issues about how policymakers and the public should think about the benefits of investments in education … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Who benefits from higher skills?

Breaking the political cycle of inequality

Posted on February 26, 2012 by timbartik

Jared Bernstein has a great presentation summary and PowerPoint on what has gone wrong with broad-based economic growth in the U.S. Jared Bernstein is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Previously, he was Chief … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development | Comments Off on Breaking the political cycle of inequality

Early childhood programs and local economic development: supply-side economics or Keynesian economics?

Posted on February 14, 2012 by timbartik

I recently encountered the statement that my book was in some way based on Keynesian economics, which is thought by some to be politically controversial. I have nothing against Keynesian economics as a way of analyzing business cycles and macroeconomic … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Early childhood programs, Economic development, Incentive design issues | Comments Off on Early childhood programs and local economic development: supply-side economics or Keynesian economics?

Do early childhood programs pay for themselves?

Posted on February 8, 2012 by timbartik

Today I continue to provide brief responses to questions I have received at presentations. Today’s question: “Do early childhood programs pay for themselves?” In the long-run, high quality early childhood programs are self-financing; in the short-run, a significant portion of … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits | Comments Off on Do early childhood programs pay for themselves?

Given the many problems with our K-12 educational system, what’s the point of adding early childhood programs?

Posted on January 30, 2012 by timbartik

I’m continuing my series of brief responses to questions I have received at public presentations on early childhood programs. Today’s question: “Given the many problems with our K-12 educational system, what’s the point of adding early childhood programs? Shouldn’t our … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Given the many problems with our K-12 educational system, what’s the point of adding early childhood programs?

Which businesses should be interested in “the business case” for early childhood programs?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by timbartik

Sara Mead has a recent blog entry that comments on problems with the likely interest of business leaders in promoting state and local education. Her comment was in part prompted by Steve Perlstein’s comments on problems in local leadership for … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local | Comments Off on Which businesses should be interested in “the business case” for early childhood programs?