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.

The national perspective: are business incentives a zero-sum game?

Posted on February 14, 2011 by timbartik

Most of this blog’s posts on business incentives and early childhood programs have taken a state and local perspective. I have focused on whether these policies produce “local economic development benefits”, which are defined as higher per capita earnings for … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, National vs. state vs. local | 2 Comments

Interview on public radio

Posted on February 14, 2011 by timbartik

An interview with me (Tim Bartik) about my book Investing in Kids aired this morning (February 14) on Kalamazoo’s public radio station, WMUK. A 5 minute and a 25 minute version of this interview can be found at the news … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Interview on public radio

A response to commonly-expressed concerns about preschool

Posted on February 11, 2011 by timbartik

I recently received a request for some information from some early childhood advocates. They were talking to a state legislator in their state. (I leave the state unnamed because I think it doesn’t matter – there are similar debates going … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 3 Comments

Metro area growth and business incentives

Posted on February 10, 2011 by timbartik

How might metro area growth affect the economic development benefits of business incentives? This topic is considered in chapter 9 of Investing in Kids. We might expect fast-growing metro areas to be less in need of new jobs.  If an … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment

Prevailing metro area growth trends: effects on economic development benefits of early childhood programs

Posted on February 9, 2011 by timbartik

I am exploring in a series of posts how a metro area’s characteristics might alter the economic development benefits of the area’s investments in early childhood programs or business incentives. This is important because we want to see whether these … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits | Comments Off on Prevailing metro area growth trends: effects on economic development benefits of early childhood programs

Political perceptions of pre-k

Posted on February 8, 2011 by timbartik

Sara Mead of Bellwether Education Partners has an interesting blog post at Education Week that focuses on her views on how to overcome the political challenges facing the pre-k movement.  She is reacting to a quote from Joe Klein of … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Political perceptions of pre-k

Metro area size and business incentives

Posted on February 8, 2011 by timbartik

In a previous post, I explored how the economic development benefits of a local area’s investment in early childhood programs might vary with the local area’s population size. In today’s post, I explore how metro area size might affect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment

Proposed pre-k budget cuts in New Jersey

Posted on February 7, 2011 by timbartik

Steve Barnett of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has a blog post on recent proposals to cut back New Jersey’s Abbott preschool program from a full-day to a half-day program. This Abbott program, which was prompted by … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Proposed pre-k budget cuts in New Jersey

Metro area size: effects on the economic development benefits of early childhood programs

Posted on February 4, 2011 by timbartik

My book, Investing in Kids, provides evidence that a state or local government’s investment in high-quality early childhood programs will have a payoff for that state or local area. That payoff is what I call “economic development benefits”: higher per … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits | 1 Comment

Does “universal pre-k” need to be a full-day, two-year program?

Posted on February 3, 2011 by timbartik

A commenter on this blog argues that “universal pre-k” is too costly because of the large estimated costs of providing full-day preschool for all 3 year olds and 4 year olds. She argues that “According to UPK advocates, “Universal pre-k” … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | 1 Comment