Regulatory Reform
How Changing Demographics Affect Nebraskans’ Wallets
In the last three posts on this topic, we’ve examined the shifting sands of Nebraska’s demographics. We’ve seen that we are actively losing the regional race for domestic migration (Post 1), that our population is rapidly…
How Nebraska’s Child Care Crisis Accelerates the Rural Brain Drain
If you want to understand the future of Nebraska’s economy, you have to look at who is building it. In our previous post, we mapped the geographic reality of Nebraska’s population: steady growth consolidating along the I-80…
Regulatory Reform in West Virginia
The Problem: A State Buried in Red TapeWest Virginia has accumulated one of the heaviest regulatory burdens in the nation. According to the State RegData project, the state now has 131,007 regulatory restrictions on the books…
Where Nebraska Stands on Childcare Regulations in 2026
Nebraska has a lot to be proud of in the Archbridge Institute’s 2026 State Childcare Regulations Index. Ranking a solid 10th nationwide with a childcare freedom score of 5.48 out of 10, the Cornhusker State stands as a…
Nebraska Population Growth: Are We Winning the Race for Residents?
When measuring a state’s economic vitality, the most honest metric isn’t always in a government budget report—it’s in a moving van. Demographics are the bedrock of our workforce, tax base, and future…
Free Markets, Local Control, and the Impact of Minimum Wage Policy on Rural Nebraska
Nebraska hit a major wage milestone in January 2026 when the state’s minimum wage rose to $15 an hour, the final step in a voter-approved 2022 plan. But the debate did not end there. Soon after, the Legislature passed LB…
What Rural Nebraska Is Losing
NOTE: Before he left, our previous intern provided a blog post based on a paper he’d written for school, discussing the challenges of big cities (especially Omaha) in our state. For his inaugural post, our current intern,…
Assessing the impact of the Jones Act waiver
Vincent Smith and Shantanu Kamat explore the impact of a significant federal regulatory waiver. The Jones Act, which restricts cargo shipments between US ports to US-flagged and owned vessels, has distorted the US…
What Omaha’s “Censored Shop” Tells Us About State Cartels
If you’re in Omaha’s Blackstone District and you’re looking for a good cocktail, you might stumble into a tucked-away speakeasy now called the “Censored Shop.” Until recently, it went by “Barber Shop Blackstone.” According to…
Who Moved in 2025? Nebraska’s Window of Opportunity
Every year, the “National Movers Study” from United Van Lines and the “U-Haul Growth Index” provide a real-time heat map of the American economy. The 2025 results are in, and they deliver a clear message: while the mass…
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