Wisconsin IDEA – Data Snapshot

Farming is an integral part of Wisconsin’s economy, self-identity, and culture, a fact reflected in the names of two of the state’s three professional sports teams, the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Brewers, which are both inspired by farming-related activities. Unfortunately, as highlighted in a recent analysis by Hadachek and Deller (2024) of the latest Census of Agriculture, the number of farms in Wisconsin has been steadily declining, dropping from 77,131 in 2002 to 58,521 in 2022.

From a macroeconomic perspective, the net savings rate is a critical indicator of the economic health and future growth potential of a country. First, savings provide the necessary funds for investment in capital goods, such as machinery, infrastructure, and technology.

Constructed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the state coincident index is a composite of four measures that summarizes a state’s economic condition in a single indicator. The economic measures used in constructing the index are: 1) nonfarm payroll employment; 2) average hours worked in manufacturing by production workers; 3) the unemployment rate; and 4) the sum of wage and salary disbursements and proprietors’ income adjusted for inflation.

In 2014, French economist Thomas Piketty published “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” revitalizing the debate around income inequality. Concerns about how the benefits of economic growth are distributed across the population have been discussed for decades, if not centuries. The most common concern is that higher-income individuals benefit disproportionately from economic growth, with the benefits trickling down slowly to lower-income individuals. In other words, as the economy grows, the distribution of income tends to skew towards higher-income individuals.

Over the last several decades, a common frustration with the U.S. economy is that much of the benefit of economic growth flows to individuals at the highest income levels. While evidence of rising income inequality across the U.S. and Wisconsin is solid, there remains a lack of understanding about how changing income thresholds determine high incomes. If the concerns are true and much of the economic growth is going to the top one percent, what defines the top one percent? Another way to consider this question is to ask how much income is needed to be in the top one percent.

Local area personal income is the total income in an area received by individuals from three primary sources: 1) earnings; 2) dividends, interest and rent; and 3) personal current transfer receipts. Income from earnings includes payments in the forms of wages and salaries, certain employer-paid benefits, and proprietor’s income.

Unlike many other countries, owning one’s home is part of the American Dream. Between 1965 and 2023 the average rate of homeownership was 65.3% with a low of 62.9% in 1965 to a peak of 69.2% in the latter half of 2004.

If there is a single measure of economic growth it would be gross domestic product (GDP). It represents the total value of all finished goods and services produced within a country’s (or state’s) borders within a specific time. To compare different regions, it is common practice to adjust total GDP to a population base, specifically GDP per capita.

One of the most commonly identified problems hindering the economic growth of Wisconsin is chronic labor shortages. Coming out of the pandemic firms have struggled to find a sufficient supply of workers. As a result, firms have been reluctant to let workers go despite indications of an economic slowdown.

Does the return to higher education justify the rising costs to students, particularly considering the current tight labor markets? Using the most current Census data for Wisconsin, the average earnings, regardless of educational attainment, is $50,039. When examining the Wisconsin-wide average across different levels of educational attainment, there is a clear upward movement as education increases.

Economists tend to disagree on most issues, but there is uniform agreement that innovation is the key to economic growth and development. Innovation is generally known to be the introduction of a new idea, method, or means of doing something, or device, or in the simplest sense, introducing something new.

Many broadband expansion discussions are driven by the expression “build it and they will come.” While there is a continued push to build more broadband infrastructure, research continues to indicate we need to also think about the cost of internet services for the consumer. Looking at trends in household internet expenditures allows us to see how consumer spending on internet services may be related to future broadband expansion and adoption trends.