print friendly version

*NEW* The Jefferson Journal: Another Myth Bites the Dust

By Leonard C. Gilroy, AICP Another transportation myth has bitten the dust -- this time the claim that government can access cheaper infrastructure financing than the private sector. Transurban's experience in Northern Virginia provides the proof. (6/26/2008) View Commentary

*NEW* The Jefferson Journal: A Transportation Reform Agenda

By Michael W. Thompson Solving the transportation challenge is about more than just spending money; its also about changing the way we fund and administer roads and rail. Here are 13 ideas for real reform. (6/24/2008) View Commentary

*NEW* The Housing Recession -- June 2008 Economic Forecast

This ninth annual economic forecast, prepared by Chmura Economics and Analytics, anticipates that Virginia's economy will be sluggish for the remainder of 2008 before improving in 2009. Single-family building permits, which fell more than 20 percent in both 2006 and 2007, are forecast to continue declining over the next two years. Other components of the forecast include: Employment growth is forecast to slow to 0.5 percent in 2008 before accelerating to 2.9 percent in 2009; wages and salaries will slow to 3.9 percent amid the business cycle downturn in 2008 before accelerating to 5.0 percent in 2009; and real retail sales are expected to increase at 0.3 percent in 2008 before improving to 3.6 percent in 2009. The forecast provides key projections for each of 11 Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Areas. View the 2008-09 Economic Forecast Past Years' Economic Forecasts: Read 2007-2008 Forecast Read 2006-2007 Forecast Read 2005-2006 Forecast Read 2004-2005 Forecast Read 2003-2004 Forecast Read 2002-2003 Forecast Read 2001-2002 Forecast Read 2000-2001 Forecast

*NEW* Only Transportation Reform Will Bring a Solution -- June 2008

"Virginians should be fed up with a transportation debate that focuses only on more taxes and not on reforming a system that isn't working well in the 21st Century," says Jefferson Institute President Michael W. Thompson. Here are thirteen ideas for genuine reform that wold address development, efficiency, and congestion relief. View Reform Agenda

Guide to Communications Policy -- April 2008

The most recent federal law affecting the communications industry as a whole was the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It failed to anticipate the widespread adoption of wireless communicationns and new applications like Instant Messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), let alone the broad substitution for traditional "land line" phone service. Never has there been a clearer example of the inability of law to keep pace with technology. This Guide to Communications Policy explains in plain language the issues and opportunities facing policymakers considering the future of the U.S. communications industry, supplying legislators with the tools to make intelligent and principled decisions that will lead to investment, job creation, and new products and services for consumers. View Policy Guide

Climate Change and the Uncomfortable Middle Ground: The Geoengineering and "No Regrets" Policy Alternative -- April 2008

This paper, delivered at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, offers the contours of a middle ground on the climate change issues. It calls for geoengineering as a means to put off the most catastriphic potential effects, at least for a few decades; an immediate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) where those reductions actually save money (the "no regrets" alternatives); significantly expanded use of and research on low-cost carbon sequestration that removes GHGs from the atmosphere or reduces carbon emissions; and some breathing space within which to further assess some of the global warming theories that, if disproven, would point humanity toward lesser or greater reliance on alternative climate change responses. View Paper

Better Education for All Children: A Virginia Educational Improvement Tax Credit -- February 2008

In his Forward to this paper, Dr. Howard Fuller, chairman of the Black Alliance for Educational Options notes that "Parent choice already exists in America -- unless you are poor." Opponents of parental choice argue that a tax credit for corporations offering scholarships for children to attend the public or private school of their choice would drain the state treasury. This fiscal analysis -- using the latest Department of Education statistics -- demonstrates how wrong that assertion is. In fact, such a tuition tax credit would have a positive fiscal impact. . View the 2008 Study View the 2007 Study View the 2006 Study View the original 2005 study

Only the Market Can Clean up the Chesapeake Bay -- November 2007

There's no doubt that the Chesapeake Bay is in trouble, but a "command and control" response won't solve the problem. Here's one solution that includes trading of nutrient reduction amongst the polluters. Read the Report

Relieving Traffic Congestion: 21st Century Ideas -- November 2007

Transportation remains a top priority for many Virginians living in the more congested areas of the Commonwealth. Here are three papers explaining new ideas based on a market-oriented philosophy that would relieve the nightmare of traffic congestion through HOT lanes, public-private partnerships in building roads, and leasing toll roads in order to improve the overall transportation network. Read the Report

Seventh Annual Fairfax County Budget Analysis -- September 2007

Virginia's largest county will spend almost $3.4 billion in FY2008. This seventh annual study compares Fairfax's actual spending increases over the past four years against what those increases would have been if they had been limited to the rate of inflation and population growth. And the county's government spent $423 million above its adopted budgets over those four years. The report also makes several recommendations for reining in county spending. View FY 2008 Analysis View FY 2007 Analysis View FY 2006 Analysis View FY 2005 Analysis View FY 2004 Analysis View FY 2003 Analysis View FY 2002 Analysis View FY 1998 Analysis

Fairfax County Attacks Jefferson Report; Institute Responds

The Fairfax County Executive's recent attack on the Thomas Jefferson Institute's Fairfax County budget study is based on faulty financial figures and attacks the methodology used in the analysis, says Jefferson President Michael W. Thompson. But the study merely duplicates the method used in the highly-respected and praised “Cole Commission” report 15 years ago, a Commission that included several Fairfax County business and government leaders, economists from George Mason University and the former Director of the federal Office of Management and Budget. Here is the Institute's response. Read the Press Release Read the Institute's response to the County. The Jefferson Institute has released its Fairfax County budget study for seven years. But instead of looking at ways to improve and reform government operations, this year – coincidentally in the middle of an election year – the County Executive has put his staff to work attacking the report in a six-page document. Read the County's Attack Here

Climate Change Responses: Implications for the Chesapeake Bay -- September 2007

In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works, Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow Dr. David Schnare argues that responses to climate change and the exclusive strategy of reducing greenhouse gases has significant implications for the Chesapeake Bay. Instead, he recommends examining "geo-engineering" that will lower global temperature and prevent the ocean from flooding the land around the Bay. View Testimony

Rail at Any Cost: Options To Provide Better Service in the Dulles Corridor -- December 2005

Traffic congestion in Northern Virginia is among the worst in the nation. But will Rail to Dulles solve the problem? This study asks some tough questions about planning for rail in the Dulles Corridor ... and offers a Bus Rapid Transit system that should be considered as an alternative transportation solution at much less cost. View Study

  Copyright © 2004. Thomas Jefferson Institute.