Research Reports: 2020

“Keep your eye on one thing and one thing only: how much government is spending, because that’s the true tax. … The thing you should keep your eye…

Introduction Public-sector unions are central to some of the most contentious public policy issues in contemporary America. Do unions improve or impair the political process and elections? Do police…

Introduction The Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes referred to as Obamacare, gave states the option to expand the Medicaid program to include non-elderly adults up to 138 percent…

Executive Summary Donor privacy protects our expressive rights, especially with regard to matters of public policy. Unfortunately, entrenched political interests have often successfully undermined that protection by forcing policy…

Budget, Taxation, and the Economy Introduction North Carolina’s strong fiscal position at the start of the COVID-19 crisis was a combination of planning and providence. Since 2011, the Republican-led General…

Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 statewide shutdown order has pushed North Carolinians online for everything from family gatherings to shopping and education. But the COVID-19 pandemic has also showcased the power…

Executive Summary North Carolina has thousands of crimes scattered across untold pages of statutes, regulations, and ordinances. Many of these crimes are duplicative, unconstitutional, or outright silly. This labyrinth of…

Executive Summary North Carolina’s Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) is widely recognized as being among the nation’s healthiest pension plan systems, currently almost 90 percent funded at a…