Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute released a new policy report, Policy Solutions for More Innovation: Modernizing Ohio’s Policies to Seize New Economic Opportunities, which offers lawmakers policy solutions that, if adopted, would structurally reform Ohio’s outdated economic system, help reverse troubling economic trends, and return the Buckeye State to economic prosperity and leadership.

“Ohio’s persistent failure to adopt structural economic reforms and adjust public policy to changing market conditions has left the state unprepared to thrive or even compete in a global, 21st century economy,” said Logan Kolas, an economic policy analyst with the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and the author of the report. “By adopting the solutions that The Buckeye Institute outlines, policymakers will better enable Ohio to regain its economic footing and achieve long-term economic success.”

In the report, Kolas outlines two key areas where the lack of action has resulted in Ohio’s slow economic decline over the past half century. First, the failure to adjust public policy to changing market conditions, and second, the failure to address the expanding skills gap between employer-needs and employee-skills.

Fortunately, there are policy solutions to these pernicious challenges, and Kolas outlines three areas where policymakers can take action to help Ohio regain its economic footing.

• Adopt strategic education reforms that can train and upskill workers, prepare them for the demands of 21st century employers, and relieve short-term labor shortages suffered by Ohio businesses. 
• Rewrite antiquated regulatory chokepoints like the state’s occupational licensing regime to ease labor flow issues and spur economic growth across industries. 
• Attract foreign companies and high-skilled workers to Ohio to help reverse worrisome population declines, make future labor market adjustments less painful, and increase the standard of living across the state.

Modernizing Ohio’s Policies to Seize New Economic Opportunities is the third policy report in The Buckeye Institute’s Policy Solutions for More Innovation series, which offers policy recommendations to spur innovation and attract new businesses to Ohio. Other research in the series includes a policy primer for attracting and retaining emerging technology jobs to Ohio and a look at the benefits of creating a regulatory sandbox for financial technology innovators. 

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