Publications - Special Reports

Strengthening the Foundation: Investments in the Adult Workforce Build a More Prosperous Georgia

This report seeks to explore public systems in Georgia that offer the opportunity for educational and skills advancement for working adults, along with the systems that encourage job growth and remove barriers to work and economic mobility. As part of a national effort called the Working Poor Families Project, the report focuses specifically on how those public systems can better interact in order to reach the state’s low-income working families. (01/09/2008)

Georgia’s Guide to Federal and State Sources that Support Youth Workforce Development with a Focus on Foster Youth

(5/23/2007)

GBPI Policy Brief: The Erosion of Food Stamp Benefits in Georgia

This Policy Brief examines how the Food Stamp program has lost pace with the rising cost of living. (5/9/2007)

Policy over Politics

A Georgia Budget and Policy Institute Commentary (04/27/2007)

Show Us the Money: Transparency Needed on Tax Breaks

Sound budget and fiscal policy demands that policymakers thoroughly examine Georgia’s broad scope of government spending. This can only be accomplished when direct spending and tax expenditures are fully disclosed and reviewed simultaneously. To facilitate this cost-benefit analysis, Georgia should require by law the inclusion of a tax expenditure report in the Governor’s annual budget. This report discusses other states experiences with tax expenditure reports and highlights what a tax expenditure report should contain. (03/05/2007)

Georgia’s Food Stamp Program: Feeding Georgians and Feeding the Economy

This report provides comprehensive information about the federal Food Stamp Program and the critical support it provides to thousands of families. This report also examines the significant economic impact Food Stamps has on the state economy. (2/13/2007)

Georgia’s Declining Welfare Caseloads: Sign of Success or Failure?

This report compares by county the decreasing TANF caseloads to the number of unemployed, number of Low-Income Medicaid Recipients, and the number of Food Stamp recipients. (01/19/2007)

GBPI Vision 2007 Policy Conference: Reform and Revitalization Presentations

Policymakers, advocates, service providers, government officials, students, and citizens joined GBPI on January 4th, 2007 for the Institute’s first annual policy conference. Participants heard an opening plenary by Senator Jack Hill and Representative Ben Harbin on upcoming state budget issues and a lunch address by Georgia Research Alliance’s Mike Cassidy and North Carolina Research Triangle Institute’s Dr. Catherine Renault on economic and workforce development needs in the 21st century. Three break-out sessions provided presentations and discussion on education finance, healthcare, and tax reform. Select presentations are included here (1/4/2007)

GBPI Policy Brief

A Georgia Minimum Wage Increase Would Benefit Hundreds of Thousands of Workers and Children (12/13/2006)

The State of Working Georgia 2006

Using the latest census data GBPI looks at the conditions of Georgia’s working families in 2005 and how those conditions compare to the nation, to the region and to the past. Trends in wages, income, jobs, unemployment, poverty, and other economic factors are analyzed to gauge the economic well being of Georgians. (09/05/2006)

Georgia's Independent Living Program: How Georgia Can Better Prepare Foster Youth for Productive Lives

In this second in a series of reports on Georgia's Child Welfare System, GBPI provides a comprehensive review of the Independent Living Program (ILP) policies and practices. (06/12/2006).

Georgia’s Aging Population: What to expect and How to Cope?

The Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Fiscal Research Center, the Georgia Health Policy Center and the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, with the assistance of GBPI, has issued a report studying the impact of Georgia’s aging population on medical expenses and the state budget. In Georgia, by 2030, one in five residents will be over the age of 60. Georgians are growing older at a faster rate than the overall U.S. population. These dramatic demographic shifts will have a significant impact on the way the State finances its budget and what it finances via the budget. (10/05/2005)

Real Costs of Raising Foster Children in Georgia: How Georgia’s Per Diem Can Keep Up

This first in a series of papers on Georgia’s Child Welfare System looks at the financial supports available within Georgia’s family foster care system in comparison to the real costs of raising a child. This report recommends that the basic foster care maintenance per diem be linked to 100 percent of the USDA estimates for raising a child. (09/19/2005)

The State of Working Georgia

Using the latest census data GBPI looks at the conditions of Georgia’s working families in 2004 and how those conditions compare to the nation, to the region and to the past. Trends in wages, income, jobs, unemployment, poverty, and other economic factors are analyzed to gauge the economic well being of Georgians. (09/06/2005)

Don’t Tax and They Will Come? The Questionable Link between State Corporate Income Taxes and Economic Development

This report looks at the link between the corporate income tax and economic development. Research on the outcomes of connecting corporate income taxes and economic development does not offer support for the use of taxes as a tool for development. To compete in economic development, Georgia should focus on strategic discretionary investments in areas of need and broad investments in public services such as education, public safety, roads, airports, bridges, and other infrastructure.  (7/18/2005)

Tax Reform and Modernization in Georgia: The First Steps

Georgia has a state tax system that is antiquated and out of touch with the modern economy of the 21st century. How do we reform and modernize the tax structure to ensure that the tax system is fair and equitable, that it is relevant to the modern economy, and that it raises the revenues necessary to meet the education, healthcare, transportation, and public safety needs of the 5th fastest growing state in the country? This report discusses how broadening the sales tax base and closing corporate tax loopholes would help bring fairness, equity, and economic reality to the current tax structure, as well as increase revenues between $800 million and $1 billion. (2/7/2005)

Improving Access to Food Stamps in Georgia

This report explains how Georgia can help more low-income families receive food stamps. (1/3/2005)

Show Us The Money: Full Disclosure Needed on Tax Breaks

Georgia’s current fiscal crisis demands that policymakers thoroughly examine Georgia’s broad scope of government spending. This can only be accomplished when direct spending and tax expenditures are fully disclosed and reviewed simultaneously. To facilitate this cost-benefit analysis, Georgia should require by law the inclusion of a tax expenditure report in the Governor’s annual budget. This report discusses other states experiences with tax expenditure reports and highlights what a tax expenditure report should contain. (11/29/2004)

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