Public Policy
The Gardner Institute provides data-driven, context-specific insights about public policy in Utah. We prepare in-depth quantitative and qualitative studies on key Utah issues in partnership with private-sector stakeholders and state and local government. Our research provides vital information decision-makers and the public use to help Utah prosper.
Insight: Crossroads of the West stands strong
By: Natalie Gochnour Originally published in the Deseret News About 1,400 small-business owners, entrepreneurs, business executives and community leaders will gather at the Grand America Hotel on Friday for the 10th annual Governor’s Economic Summit. It will be a celebration of sorts, as the Utah economy continues to impress. The Beehive State created nearly 45,000 jobs over the past year and is in its sixth year of solid economic growth. The Crossroads of the West stands strong. […]
Insight: Rising Rents and Sluggish Incomes Squeeze Renters
By: James Wood For some time, increases in rental rates have outpaced gains in renter’s income. Rental rates are being pushed up by unusually strong demand for apartment living. The housing market has responded with a boom in construction of high quality, high-priced units. Nearly 20,000 apartment units have been completed in the past five years. The typical 1000 square foot, two-bedroom, two bath unit in a new apartment community rents for around $1,300. In a popular rental market such as Salt Lake City’s downtown rental market or the Sugarhouse market, rents will be at least $200 higher for a[...]
Insight: Choosing Physicians – More Information Is Better
By: Anna Bergevin In graduate school, I took a class on health economics where I learned about many of the barriers and challenges providers and consumers face in health care markets. Often in such conversations the notion of information asymmetry is raised. Information asymmetry refers to the imbalance in information between consumers and providers. In health care, providers (hospitals & physicians) have better information regarding the product (medical services) than the consumer does. Markets function better when we can reduce such asymmetries. […]
Budgeting Insight: A Collaboration of the Western United States
By: Dr. Jennifer Robinson, Ph.D. The California Journal of Politics and Policy publishes, in cooperation with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, the Western State Budget Reports each year. In these reports, you can read about how Alaska changed the oil tax, how several states have legalized marijuana and the effect on revenue, and what states have yet to recover from the Great Recession. The reports are authored by faculty from 14 universities in the west, representing Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. […]
Insight: A Look Back at Washington County’s Housing Bubble
By: James Wood The recently completed annual St. George Area Parade of Homes had the second highest attendance in its 26-year history. Only the 2007 parade, at the peak of the real estate boom, had more attendees. Judging from the crowds and the home prices there’s no trace of the Great Recession in the local real estate market. The 28 homes in this year’s parade included 13 homes priced over $1 million with the highest priced home topping out at $ 4 million. Four years ago, only 3 of the 28 homes in the parade were priced above $1 million.[...]
Insight: Homeless in Utah -Challenges and Opportunities
By: Juliette Tennert, M.A. Among the many issues that Utah’s legislature is tackling in the 2016 General Session, addressing homelessness in our state is among the most pressing. Legislators are considering a number of bills and funding requests that represent the coordinated efforts of stakeholders through the HOMES Initiative seeking a common goal of minimizing homelessness in Utah. While we can celebrate success in reducing chronic homelessness (at last count, Utah’s chronically homeless population is 91% smaller than it was in 2005), the risk of homelessness among families with children and young adults is an increasing concern as the poverty[...]