A growing number of economists hold the view that the US government’s growing debt is nothing to worry about. They believe this because real interest rates are not only historically low but are also forecast to stay low for a long time. As such, the government can carry high debt levels without worrying about debt sustainability. In addition, some economists argue that, in countries where low real interest rates and the negative interest-rate-minus-growth differential are sustained, the government can increase primary deficits without worrying about future costs.
Rural broadband deployment has become an urgent policy issue in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how important broadband is for work, education, and leisure. Lacking a connection can be socially and educationally crippling. As of 2018, over 14 million Americans living in rural areas lacked access to a fixed 25–megabit per second broadband connection. State and local officials have a menu of options to expand rural broadband coverage without costly new subsidy programs.
Four in ten Americans live in states with either no CON laws or very limited CON laws in healthcare (as I write, this number is growing because recent reforms in Florida and Montana are now taking effect). In these states, providers may open new facilities or expand their services without first proving to a regulator that their community needs the service in question. These non-CON states include high- and low-income, urban and rural, and coastal and intracontinental communities. Policymakers in Alaska can learn from the experience of patients in these states to see how CON laws affect spending, access, and quality of care.
The real issue at stake with HB 5429 is not the positive effects this bill is likely to have, but whether the state ought to decrease the regulatory authority it has granted municipalities. As a New England native, I am keenly aware that New England towns have been vital institutions for centuries. My hometown elected its own leaders and exerted police powers for a century before the revolution gave residents the right to elect their governor. Notwithstanding this tradition, these local powers have never been boundless and have long been contested and restrained.
Mounting evidence suggests that the institutions of development in suburban Minnesota are broken. An increasing number of suburbs are abandoning traditional zoning in favor of PUDs. PUDs are appropriate for unique or innovative projects, but they are an invitation to opaque policymaking and favoritism. In addition, the creation of a PUD agreement involves up-front administrative costs, making it uneconomical for small-scale builders.
