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MinnEcon Blog

Does empathy have economic value?

Here’s a post from my MPR colleague Mike Caputo: In just nine months, Amanda Halbersma, a Public Insight Network source, went from buying a foreclosed home to worrying about the possibility of foreclosure with that very same house. Several years ago, Marcia Miller of Minneapolis worked as an administrative law judge for Arizona’s unemployment department.…
by Paul Tosto

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Eliot and the (thawing?) job market

Public Insight Editor Andrew Haeg posts on the new jobless numbers and how one man is navigating his unemployment The news on the state’s unemployment front today was not bad, but not great. The unemployment rate dipped 0.3 percent to 8.1 percent. Nothing to pop a cork for. After all, more than 240,000 Minnesotans are…
by Paul Tosto

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Easy credit, hard lessons

A post from MPR Public Insight Editor Andrew Haeg on the consequences of easy credit. On Thursday, Congress will enact new legislation that protects consumers from a range of common lending practices, such as raising rates with little or no notice. In advance, credit card rates are going up, and so are bankruptcy filings. For…
by Paul Tosto

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Value Judgments

Here’s a post from my colleague Mike Caputo: When economic times are good, people tend to function on auto-pilot. Who needs deep introspection when salaries are rising and profits are rolling in? But hard economic times can force people to re-engage, and ask tough questions about what they do for a living, and how they…
by Paul Tosto

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Health Care Handcuffs

Here’s a post from Public Insight Network editor Andrew Haeg: One aspect of the health care debate that’s gotten lost in the ruckus is the economic argument for health care reform–an argument that transcends party lines. It’s on our minds because of a storyline we’re hearing repeatedly from self-employed Minnesotans in the Public Insight Network,…
by Paul Tosto

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Fridley defense plant cuts 314

Layoffs became official today at the BAE Systems plant in Fridley — 314 is the official number cut. The layoffs unveiled today are the inevitable fallout from a Pentagon decision earlier this year to end a crucial Army contract to build the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon, a weapon designed and built at Fridley and once thought to…
by Paul Tosto

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Back to work. Still worried

The recession’s bottoming out. Some unemployed Minnesotans are starting to find work again, which is great. But what will the workplace look like when they return? It may be very different from when they were cut. I was reminded of that today after a couple of good news emails arrived from citizens in MPR’s Public…
by Paul Tosto

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Where are Minnesota’s uninsured?

The health care debate’s gone a little squirrely. So rather than jump into that fray, let’s step back and ask a question: Where do Minnesota’s uninsured live? You might be surprised. More importantly: Can you help explain it? Newly released data from the Census Bureau shows Minnesota had the highest percentage of health insured citizens…
by Paul Tosto

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What’s college good for these days?

Is college worth it? My MPR colleague Mike Caputo’s been talking to Minnesotans in our Public Insight Network this week about the value of higher learning in this recession. Here’s his report: Remember those college years when your uncle told you to dream big and learn about life while in school? What would he say…
by Paul Tosto

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What Mortgage Mess II may look like in Minnesota

With real estate prices bottoming out, it’s easy to think Minnesota’s past the pain of the mortgage crisis. Data on the state’s riskier home loans, however, shows some major worries straight ahead. We got a lesson on what the next mess may look like from Ed Nelson, a source in MPR’s Public Insight Network. He’s…
by Paul Tosto

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