Check out what's happening in the NewQuestCity Forums for Michigan .

Finally we are having the debate we need on higher education funding. For the past decade the state – on a bi-partisan basis – has disinvested in higher education without much debate. As we have argued for years this was a big mistake. In a world driven by globalization and technology, human capital is now [...]

For decades we have been told by much of the organized business community and conservative policy makers and pundits that Michigan needs to move in the direction of the low tax/small governemnt/right to work South to be economically successful. Which, as I have written frequently (for example this previous post), is at best a recipe [...]

Michigan is the land of the inland seas -- The waters of Michigan's Great Lakes lap against 3,200 miles of Michigan coastline onto sandy beaches and rocky shores, dotted with more than 100 public beaches, and two National Lakeshores.

Michigan’s Winter Pheasants, written by Dan Donarski, a noted professional outdoor and travel journalist.

Paddling in winter becomes a process of rediscovering Michigan’s rivers and the landscape — and of discovering again the sensuous pleasures of gliding through clear water in a canoe.

Each time I write about charter schools I feel the need to start with we are a big supporter of charters. Have been since their inception in Michigan more than 15 years ago. Of the high schools we have made grants to in our Michigan Future Schools initiative five of the seven are charter schools. [...]

As we have written previously Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum in their terrific new book That Used To Be Us lay out the right goal for economic policy: “the purpose of the exercise: It is not simply to reduce the deficit but to insure prosperity. Solvency is vital, but it is not enough.” Their recipe for [...]

In his terrific book, Triumph of the City, Edward Glaeser writes: “There is every reason to think that an increasingly prosperous world will continue to place more value on the innovative enjoyments that cities can provide. The bottom-up nature of urban innovation suggests that the best economic development strategy may be to attract smart people and [...]

Brian Dickerson’s Detroit Free Press column “What Rick Snyder wants most of all” column is highly recommended. It raises all the right questions about what direction the Governor wants Michigan to head in. Using the Governor’s proposal for another big business tax cut – this time the personal property tax – as a key indicator [...]

The rustic cabins at Harlow Lake near Marquette are headquarters for a perfect winter weekend adventure.

Our research clearly indicates that where recent college graduates concentrate you get prosperous economies. And increasingly that concentration is occurring in vibrant central cities.  Specifically high density, mixed use, walkable neighborhoods. For the details see our Young Talent in the Great Lakes report. Cities – with the support of their regions and states – across the [...]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in an interview with NPR laid out the case as well as anyone that vibrant central cities are central to future economic vitality. And that public investments in those central cities is essential to staying competitive. You can read the transcript and/or listen to it here. In the interview, Emanuel said: I cannot [...]

From its inception Michigan Future Schools understood that the schools it invests in need to be good at  operations, academics and student recruitment. All three matter. That in addition to financial support, MFS needed to help the schools it invests in build the capacity to be first rate in all three [...]

Our work at Michigan Future is focused on recreating Michigan as a high prosperity state. A place, once again, with a broad middle class. It is a status we enjoyed for most of the 20th Century, but now have lost. In our research we have found that the states that have high per capita income – [...]

Conventional wisdom both here and across the country is that when it comes to k-12 schooling (and a whole lot more) Detroit is the most ossified place. Resistant to all change.  Highly protective of the public school monopoly and unionized workers. Think again! Turns out that Detroit parents, in unprecedented numbers, actively shop for schools rather [...]

In our 2006 A New Agenda for a New Michigan report we wrote: “As we assess the assets Michigan has to prepare, retain, and attract talent, our higher education system rises to the top of the list. Michigan has spent decades building a world-class system of higher education, both universities and community colleges. They are [...]

I want to apply the Friedman and Mandelbaum standard I wrote about in my last post to Detroit. They insightfully  assert that “the purpose of the exercise: It is not simply to reduce the deficit but to insure prosperity. Solvency is vital, but it is not enough.” Insuring prosperity, not balancing the budget should be [...]

I highly recommend reading That Use to Be Us by Thomas Friedman and Michael Madelbaum. It is a really good overview of what it will take for us as individuals as well as a country to compete in a continuously flattening world driven by globalization and technology. They lay out in compelling – and often [...]

Michigan’s better than the nation economy for the last year or so is primarily the result of the federal government’s huge bailout of the domestic auto industry. End of story! As I wrote previously it is big government in action and working. While the Republican presidential candidates argued in the state’s primary that Michigan, the country [...]