![[Photo of James M. Hohman]](/media/images/people/hohman-j.jpg)
James M. Hohman
Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy
James M. Hohman is assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He holds a degree in economics from Northwood University in Midland, Mich.
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By James M. Hohman
No Auto Resurgence Yet
While the Detroit 3 are now profitable and optimistic, clear job gains have yet to be prevalent. … more
Michigan Tax Reform Signed
The Michigan Business Tax will soon be no more. … more
Don't Confuse Estimates With Data
Center analyst explains job growth estimates to reporter. … more
Michigan Stands Out in Tax Redistribution
Michigan's EITC among most generous in the country. … more
Detroit Free Press Editor Points out Film Incentive Flaws
As Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson points out, the film incentive was meant to generate a film industry in Michigan that would exist without special favors. In light of this goal, the incentive has so far been only an expensive failure. … more
Governor Looks At Public Employee Compensation
In his executive budget, Gov. Rick Snyder recommends reforms to the compensation offered to employees by Michigan’s state and local governments. Considering that employment costs are a primary reason why government continues to grow, this is a commendable move. … more
More Good News for Michigan’s Economy
The Bureau of Labor Statistics provided some encouraging news that indicated Michigan’s economy continues to recover. The state’s private sector added 221,292 jobs in the second quarter of 2010 and lost only 184,025. … more
How Bad is Detroit’s Detroitification?
Mackinac Center analyst Jack McHugh has called the long process of hollowing out a private economy to prop up an unsustainable government, "Detroitification." Detroit's most recent comprehensive annual financial report shows just how much the title-city itself has been hollowed. … more
Michigan Posts Record Drop in Unemployment Rate for December
According to data released by the Michigan Office of Labor Market Information today, the state’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.7 percentage points from 12.4 percent in November 2010 to 11.7 percent in December 2010. This is a record for this data series that began in 1976. … more
Bonuses Included, Michigan Government Benefits Exceed Private Sector by $5.7 Billion
In an article in The Detroit News, Michigan Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, states that government workers get generous health and pension benefits in lieu of bonuses, apparently implying that the two offset. Thankfully, there are data on the issue to check his theory. … more
Gov. Granhom Claims Ignorance of MEGA Failures
If a person sits through Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s video portrait, they might think that the governor is interested and aware of her economic development programs. She spends nearly the entire production on her efforts to foster job creation. Unfortunately, a recent MIRS interview (subscription required) shows that she is blind to the failures of the programs she supports. … more
The Mackinac Center Is not 'Pro-Business'
The Mackinac Center is pro-free markets, not necessarily “pro-business.” The following excerpt from an article by Luigi Zingales does a good job of describing the difference (although the Center is not a lobbyist, either). Zingales is a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. … more
Michigan School Privatization Survey 2010
Privatization of support services has been a method that Michigan school districts have used for several years to lower costs. More than ever before, Michigan school districts are privatizing the three main support services they offer — food, custodial and transportation. Our annual survey finds that 48.8 percent of Michigan school districts are contracting out for these services. This is an 8 percent increase over 2009.
The largest impetus for contracting is cost savings. The survey found that first-year contracts alone are expected to save districts $16.7 million cumulatively. … more
The largest impetus for contracting is cost savings. The survey found that first-year contracts alone are expected to save districts $16.7 million cumulatively. … more
Michigan Falls to Bottom 10 in Key Economic Measure
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released a key measure of economic growth today that showed that Michigan has gone over a decade without increased production. New gross domestic product figures, a measure of the value of an area’s goods and services production, showed that Michigan’s economy produced 8 percent less in 2009 than it did in 2000 when adjusted for inflation. The nation rose 15 percent during this period. … more
Michigan Falls to Bottom 10 in Key Economic Measure
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released a key measure of economic growth today that showed that Michigan has gone over a decade without increased production. New gross domestic product figures, a measure of the value of an area’s goods and services production, showed that Michigan’s economy produced 8 percent less in 2009 than it did in 2000 when adjusted for inflation. The nation rose 15 percent during this period. … more
Wishful Reporting of Governor’s Investment Missions
In Gov. Jennifer Granholm's weekly radio address, she ballyhoos her investment missions abroad by claiming that they're responsible for creating or retaining 20,000 Michigan jobs. Unfortunately, she continues to mistake job announcements for job creation. … more
Michigan’s Economy: From Worst to Average
There's no question that Michigan's economy has performed poorly over the past decade. Essentially, the state lost one out of every five jobs since employment peaked in 2000. However, Michigan's economic trends have changed in recent months. It is no longer the worst performer in the country. In fact, since the end of the U.S. recession, Michigan's performance is average. … more
And They Think California Is a Lost Jobs Basketcase?
Some 867,500 jobs have disappeared from the Great Lakes State since our 2000 employment peak of 4,690,300 jobs. … more
Governor: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose on Job Projections
Gongwer News Service reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm is unhappy that a new economic forecast estimates that Michigan will start adding jobs next year. But crediting those programs for improving the job estimates is an injudicious use of the forecasts since the economic estimates cited have been optimistic. … more
Broken Windows on Display in Michigan Senate Finance Committee
Mark Adler, a lobbyist for the Michigan Production Alliance, and Carrie Jones, the director of the Michigan Film Office, defended the state's film subsidy program in a Senate Finance Committee meeting today. To do so they employed a long-recognized economic fallacy, the "Broken Window" theory, which only considers economic activity that is "seen" while ignoring unseen economic costs. … more
