As businesses increasingly rely on technology, cities with a strong tech workforce gain a competitive edge, experiencing greater economic growth. This shift can be seen in both urban centers and rural areas.
Courtney Edwards, associate director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated UNC Tax Center, offered up her expertise in a recent WalletHub article highlighting the best U.S. states for retirement this year. "Taxes are an important consideration for so many decisions individuals make and should not be overlooked when deciding where to retire," Edwards said.
On Oct. 12, Kenan Scholars Chris Karras, Emily Arnold, Victor Brown and Jack Noble presented the work they completed during their public sector summer internships at the Kenan Institute Asia in Bangkok, Thailand.
Speakers, panels and rocket presentations by experts in entrepreneurship will discuss best practice approaches to teaching and ways of incorporating innovation into the higher education system.
Speed networking is networking with a twist. It’s a quick and entertaining way for scholars and mentors to meet. This year’s Board of Mentors members include local political leaders, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School professors and business owners and professionals.
Using a sample of the 48 contiguous United States, we consider the problem of forecasting state and local governments’ revenues and expenditures in real time using models that feature mixed-frequency data. We find that single-equation mixeddata sampling (MIDAS) regressions that predict low-frequency fiscal outcomes using high-frequency economic data historically outperform both traditional fiscal forecasting models and theoretically motivated multi-equation models.
Commercial real estate is a major asset class, with an estimated value of more than $12 trillion in the U.S. alone. But the stay-at-home orders and business closures precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to negatively – and disastrously – affect commercial properties. What will the short- and long-term impacts be, which types of properties will be hardest hit and what policies can be put in place to help stem the tide of losses? UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor and Leonard W. Wood Center for Real Estate Studies Faculty Advisor Andra Ghent and her colleagues examine these issues in this week’s Kenan Insight.
Governors across the United States have reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing state-level executive actions to address a range of issues provoked by the crisis. Although it is too early to gauge the long-term effects of the pandemic and states’ responses to it, this Kenan Insight provides a preliminary analysis of actions governors have taken thus far, to help inform policymaking going forward.
In response to the economic chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government launched its largest fiscal stimulus in modern history—the CARES Act. But with $2 trillion invested in small businesses, unemployment benefits and direct cash payments to households, the CARES Act has still fallen short of its goals to spur consumer spending and restore employment. This Kenan Insight analyzes what went wrong, and offers suggestions for the anticipated next round of federal economic aid.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 established a new program called “Opportunity Zones” that created tax advantages for investment locating in Census tracts with relatively low income or high poverty. Importantly, only 25% of eligible tracts in each state could be designated as an Opportunity Zone. We use detailed establishment-level data and a difference-in-difference (DiD) approach to identify the designation of a tract as an Opportunity Zone on job creation.
As the historic 2020 U.S. presidential election draws nearer, voters are taking stock of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their lives and livelihoods, and demanding that policymakers present their plans for economic recovery. In this Kenan Insight, we look at the major forces reshaping the U.S. economy and offer suggestions for forging an intentional and equitable path forward.
On Sept. 9-11, the Kenan Institute co-hosted our second Black Communities Conference with the Institute of African American Research in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Attendees came from around the world to collaborate across disciplines. Black Communities is a a vibrant and uniquely important gathering featuring panel discussions, local tours, film screenings, workshops, keynotes and more. Our core mission is to foster collaboration among Black communities and universities for the purpose of enhancing Black community life.
The Black Communities Conference, a.k.a. #BlackCom2019, is a vibrant and uniquely important gathering featuring panel discussions, local tours, film screenings, workshops, keynotes and more. Our core mission is to foster collaboration among Black communities and universities for the purpose of enhancing Black community life and furthering the understanding of Black communities. Black Communities: A Conference for Collaboration is co-hosted by the Institute of African American Research and the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
A survey of 39 accounting academics conducted by UNC Tax Center Research Director Jeff Hoopes was featured in the Oct. 28 New York Times DealBook Newsletter. In the survey, Hoopes asked respondents if they would support Senator Elizabeth Warren's Real Corporate Profits Tax.
As The Wall Street Journal reported this week, Congress is gearing up for a potential showdown with the largest tech companies in the U.S. And with a bipartisan group of representatives pushing for legislation that would dismantle the monopoly power of Big Tech, this week's Kenan Insight revisits research on how regulating Amazon, Apple and others may be key to reviving the economies of America’s held-back cities and regions.
How the U.S. is experiencing inflation shows considerable variation from place to place.
Apprenticeship programs have not historically been successful in reaching a diverse array of people. A report by the institute-affiliated NCGrowth examines trends within apprenticeship and offers a set of best practices to continue diversifying these programs
As major health systems continue to merge, one of the main questions for commentators and researchers concerns the somewhat vague idea of community benefit. The Atrium Health–Advocate merger is set to provide approximately $5 billion in annual community benefit, targeted to aid vulnerable communities and individuals. Community benefit can be understood as any action, investment or program provided by a tax-exempt hospital or health system that promotes the health and wellness of the community they serve. In addition to community benefit, Advocate Health described a $2 billion pledge to disrupt the root causes of health inequities across the rural and urban communities it serves.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 introduced sweeping changes to individual and corporate taxation. We summarize the major provisions, trace the origins of the Act, and compare it to previous tax changes. We also examine the effects on the government budget, economic activity, and distribution of resources.