Our Best Foot Forward: An Investment Plan for North Carolina's Economic Recovery

an investment plan for north carolina's economic recovery

Plot

Last in the nation in economic health. That was North Carolina’s ranking for much of 2011 — a condition that came as a great shock to many North Carolinians accustomed to thinking of their state as an economic pacesetter. The truth is, as John Hood explains in Our Best Foot Forward, that North Carolina has been lagging regional and national averages in economic performance since the mid-1990s. An during the first decade of the 21st century, average real incomes in North Carolina actually declined for the first time since the Great Depression.Why is the state’s economy so weak? What can North Carolina’s leaders do about it? These are among the questions that Hood answers in Our Best Foot Forward. He also investigates how our education system matches up with those other states and nations, whether North Carolina’s tax code punishes the poor, how government spending affects economic growth, how government regulation affects the cost of energy, and many other issues.