Blog

Top Research Findings of 2014: Part I

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Each December, top-10 lists start popping up to reflect the events and highlights of the past year. We encourage you to add our Top Research Findings of 2014 to your year-end reading list. Selected by Utah Foundation staff, the Foundation’s board of directors voted on these findings last week to determine their order of importance. This posting includes the first three from that list (10 through 8), with the remaining seven to be announced within … Continued

Get a job! Now hiring at Utah Foundation

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

Two great opportunities are available at Utah Foundation. If you enjoy our balanced, nonpartisan research on the major issues facing our state and you think you could add to our strength, please apply. Thanks to wonderful board members helping with fundraising, we are expanding our staff to bring more of this great work to the public and policymakers in 2015. We are recruiting for a research analyst and a communications specialist. Both are full-time, salaried … Continued

Does Utah have a debt problem?

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

Utah has a debt problem. But Utah needs to build some vital projects. Both perspectives were presented at our Bacon, Biscuits and Bonds breakfast event at the Capitol today. We learned some very interesting facts and heard some great arguments for several proposals. Here are a few notes: Treasurer Richard Ellis urged lawmakers to slow down in requesting new bond-funded projects. Utah’s debt levels have risen dramatically since 2009, with debt now around $1,000 per … Continued

Swimming in Quantitative Easing

Written by: Shawn Teigen

  What on earth is quantitative easing and why is Utah Foundation writing about it now? Since the Great Recession, the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy from its bond-buying program – referred to as “quantitative easing.” The program will likely end in October. How does quantitative easing spur economic growth? It is like watering your lawn from a wading pool. You pour additional water into the pool and the … Continued

Our research on economic mobility receives recognition in D.C.

Written by: Mallory Bateman

Last week Utah Foundation received a Certificate of Merit at the Governmental Research Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. The recognition, for Shawn’s work on economic mobility, was in the category of most effective education. GRA is a national organization of individuals professionally engaged in policy research. During the three day conference, Shawn presented and moderated a panel on economic mobility alongside two directors from Pew’s Financial Security and Mobility group.  The panel covered findings from … Continued

FRED and the Treasury Rate Spread

Written by: Christopher Collard

For those of you out there who love good economic data, FRED (the economic database for the Federal Reserve) has some cool new features. On top of their newly designed interactive graphs launched late last year, they most recently added the ability to create a dashboard to keep track of all your favorite economic indicators in real time. One thing that economically attuned people like to keep their eye on is the spread (or difference) … Continued

The Cost of Cake

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Wedding season is just around the corner. How much is a wedding going to cost the happy couple? A lot. Though in Utah the cost is comparably small. Utahns have the second lowest wedding costs in the nation after Idahoans ($16,816 and $16,159 respectively), both of which are just over half of the average national expense ($29,858). And none of these total costs include honeymoons. (As a side note, Utah has the second highest honeymoon … Continued

More About Migration

Written by: Mallory Bateman

Our recent report, A Snapshot of 2050, discusses the way that migration to and from Utah can make the total population fluctuate. We thought we’d take a minute to look into Utah’s past migration and discuss changes that the state has experienced in the past. From 1991 to 1997, the share of Utah’s population growth caused by net migration (in-migration minus out-migration) ranged from about 40 percent to just over 50 percent. A similar nearly … Continued

Utah Financial Forecasting and Planning: Overcoming Volatility

Written by: Christopher Collard

Utah was recently recognized in a Pew Charitable Trusts report for exemplary budgeting practices. Namely, Utah does a good job at forecasting tax revenue and dealing with revenue volatility. A key difficulty in the budgeting process lies in forecasting tax revenue: Business cycles are unpredictable and have a large effect on the amount of money the state collects through taxes. Recessions decrease revenue from sales tax and income tax. Swings in specific industries can have … Continued

Slides from our 2014 Annual Meeting: Higher Education and Utah’s Economic Growth

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Utah Foundation thanks the generous sponsors that made the 2014 Annual Meeting possible: Fidelity Investments, Love Communications, Salt Lake Community College, Utah Education Savings Plan, Utah System of Higher Education, and Utah Valley University Foundation. We appreciate the wonderful presentations from great speakers. Several attendees have asked for the presenters’ slides, which are included below. President Stephen Hershey Kroes – Utah’s Unique Education Challenges & Opportunities [visual presentation not presented at meeting] First Panel: Higher … Continued