State & Hill

City of Flint and CLOSUP work toward transparency in municipal financial reporting By Daniel Rivkin When City of Flint CFO Rob Widigan looks at his required annual financial reporting to the state of Michigan, he sighs. His department needs to...

Democracy in the United States and across the globe has been in decline for years, as documented with rigorous tracking methodologies. Freedom House has tracked declines in civil liberties and political rights in the U.S., for example. And the...

By Rebecca Cohen (MPP '09)Americans’ trust in government institutions to “do the right thing” has steadily eroded since the late 1960s,1 correlated for many analysts with events such as the Vietnam War, Watergate, the ’70s oil embargo, and President...

It’s been a tumultuous decade in Michigan: three governors, a cratered economy and its recovery, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, a public health disaster in Flint, and more. Through it all, the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS)...

It's been eight years since the Ford School launched the Michigan Public Policy Survey, which collects data and opinions about a broad range of state and local policy challenges from local government leaders across the state. After 16 surveys, 60...

Ford School faculty members often engage in collective problem-solving--with other scholars, of course, but also with policymakers and practitioners all around the world. The goal of these collaborations? Finding better solutions, and mutually...

The fall 2015 issue of State & Hill magazine was mailed to alumni and friends of the Ford School on November 18, 2015. This edition of the magazine, titled “Motor City Remix,” highlighted stories about some of the work Ford School faculty,...

Republicans support a carbon tax? Yes they do. Barry Rabe, director of the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, explains. ​ S&H: You'll spend your sabbatical year working on a book about carbon pricing. Why that topic? Barry...