Bureau of Business and Economic Research

NEW EPISODE: More Complexity Ahead for Property Taxes Property taxes are something no one wants to deal with. Most of the time the governor and the legislature are blamed, rather than local governments, who are the ones setting the taxes in the first place. The issue today is not the amount, but rather the disproportion of tax burden between property classes. Learn More Here: https://bit.ly/3Z3FORo?

NEW EPISODE: Understanding Swings in Crime Does capital punishment deter murder and other capital offenses? A controversial study 50 years ago found that it does. That study sparked huge debates that are still raging today. Regardless, crime has had many swings in history such as in the 60s and 70s when violent crime surged. Now, crime is making a comeback. Learn More Here:? https://bit.ly/3Z36T7g?

NEW EPISODE: The Damage of Mobile Sports Betting Apps Thankfully, in Montana you must be physically present at the lottery ticket vendor to bet on sports, unlike many other states. Research shows that accessible mobile gambling creates economic damage to households. In the states that have mobile gambling, higher bankruptcy rates, lower rates of savings, and more domestic violence incidents are common. Learn More Here: https://bit.ly/3CMy4vC

NEW EPISODE: No Checks and Balances on Bureaucracy Aside from expensive lawsuits, there’s little that individuals and businesses can do to fight regulatory decisions. The FCC decides that financial statements must show carbon emissions. The EPA decides that your backyard pond is a navigable waterway. There are hundreds of decisions in regulatory agencies that affect our daily lives. Learn More Here: https://bit.ly/4f2PC4h

It takes a genius to make things simple, especially in the case of the adequacy of electricity supply. Few of us have exposure to how the generation, distribution, and transportation of energy to every city, home, and business actually works. But that hasn’t stopped us from having strong opinions on everything from retiring coal plants to banning bitcoin miners. Listen to today's podcast here: https://bit.ly/3CDaPUJ

New Podcast Episode: The Logic of Gathering Data When you buy something, you want to know what it costs. When you accept a job, you want to know how much it pays. Those are obvious examples of how information helps us make decisions. Despite a 250-year long history of the government gathering data on population and the economy, some want to restrict it. Listen to today's podcast here :https://bit.ly/3ZgjR2F

NEW EPISODE: The Impact of New Residents Many of us profess to be unhappy about new residents in Montana. Judging from the propaganda and political ads, those who stay put are to be celebrated, while those who have arrived from elsewhere are not. Yet research suggests that new residents add to the economy. #bureauofbusiness #economy #universityofmontana #missoula #podcast #montanaeconomy Listen to Dr. Patrick Barkey's most recent podcast to hear more: https://bit.ly/4exQEEY?

When people look at the way income is distributed between rich and poor, the common perception is that the upper 1% of earners are getting away with murder when it comes to taxes. Some researchers say otherwise. #income #taxes #economy #business #investments #research #Montanaeconomy #MT Listen to Dr. Patrick Barkey's most recent podcast to hear more: https://bit.ly/3VnoLcb

NEW EPISODE: Do Cities Need to be Forced to be More Affordable? The solution to housing unaffordability - to build more housing - is not welcome in many parts of the state. Let those other places become more densely populated while we keep our big lawns and quiet streets. If we think that way, the crisis gets worse. Learn More Here: https://bit.ly/4hVQcDy

NEW EPISODE: Regulation Helps Make Businesses Bigger We're a big country - 330 million people. Simply attaching the word "big" to anything turns it into a villain. Big cities, big pharma, big banks. What makes businesses big? Efficiency is one reason, but government regulations often force companies out of business. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3YRvFqY