Policy Reports

A Tax Plan for Our Brighter Future

A Tax Plan for Our Brighter Future

A Tax Plan for Our Brighter Future paper-digital In Louisiana’s Comeback: A Tax Reform for Our Brighter Future, the Pelican Institute identifies the state’s significant tax problems and proposes a path to set the state in a brighter direction, including flattening the personal and corporate income taxes to 3.5% rates, reducing the number of tax preferences, eliminating...

Antitrust & Enforcement: Letting Markets Work without Empowering Government

Antitrust & Enforcement: Letting Markets Work without Empowering Government

In their report “Antitrust & Enforcement: Letting Markets Work without Empowering Government,” Ted Bolema, Ph.D., J.D., Antitrust and Competition Fellow at the Innovators Network Foundation, and Vance Ginn, Ph.D., Chief Economist at the Pelican Institute, write that while the current frustrations with the size of large tech companies and censorship practices may be warranted, giving...

By Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

Louisiana Needs a Responsible Budget

Louisiana Needs a Responsible Budget

Published April 2023. The recipe for economic freedom has fewer key ingredients than you might think. It takes sensible regulations, low taxes, but most importantly, the bread and butter: responsible state budgeting. And that’s a recipe that Louisiana’s leaders should follow this fiscal year and beyond to set the state on a course toward greater...

Citizen’s Guide to the Louisiana Budget

Citizen’s Guide to the Louisiana Budget

The Pelican Institute’s Citizen’s Guide to the Louisiana Budget offers an overview and brief history of Louisiana’s operating and capital budgets and outlines how the state can begin to create a more responsible, sustainable budget over time that remains adaptable to the needs of Louisiana. The Citizen’s Guide shows how Louisiana’s budget has grown unsustainably...

Louisiana’s Comeback Agenda

Louisiana’s Comeback Agenda

It’s time to write Louisiana’s comeback story. For too long, poor public policy decisions have caused Louisiana families to suffer while our neighbors thrive. While other families think about leaving a legacy, our legacy – our kids, grandkids, friends, and family members – are leaving to find work and opportunity in other states. It doesn’t...

Crime In Louisiana: Analyzing the Data

Crime In Louisiana: Analyzing the Data

This year, disturbing reports of increased crime have dominated the news, both in Louisiana and nationally. Crime is a serious issue that demands thoughtful solutions to deter criminal behavior and promote public safety. They should be guided by data and evidence, not anecdotes. That’s why Pelican set out to review and better understand the underlying...

Regulatory Sandboxes: Where Innovation Happens

Regulatory Sandboxes: Where Innovation Happens

Regulatory sandboxes are a novel way to govern innovative companies, allowing them to test their product under an alternative regulatory structure. States like Louisiana can benefit from sandboxes by attracting entrepreneurs from other states who are stifled by inflexible regulations while empowering innovators here at home. This report details how states have successfully (and unsuccessfully)...

Louisiana Education Dashboard

Louisiana Education Dashboard

Understanding the data is extremely important in evaluating trends associated with, and the performance of, Louisiana’s elementary and secondary education system. Despite spending the most per student in the southeast U.S., Louisiana consistently ranks at the bottom of the country in public school educational outcomes. While there has been incremental progress, it’s been very slow, and generations...

By Erin Bendily, Ph.D.

When The Entrepreneurs Go Marching Out

When The Entrepreneurs Go Marching Out

How Licensing Holds Back the Pelican State Occupational licenses function as a government permission slip to work in a profession. Laws requiring them are generally passed by states and require a professional to meet entry requirements that often include minimum levels of education and training, job experience, passing exams, and paying fees. Proponents of licensing...

By Raheem Williams

An Outlier in Civil Forfeiture

An Outlier in Civil Forfeiture

Civil Asset Forfeiture Imagine a world in which you are driving home from work only to be stopped and robbed of your vehicle and all the valuables in your possession. Now imagine the person doing this isn’t a criminal vagrant but an officer of the law. For most Louisianans, such a scenario sounds dystopian and...