(two-minute read) Policy in Brief: In this commentary, Ryan M. LaRochelle argues that the (pre-COVID-19) positive economic indicators for Maine and the nation ignore that economic opportunity has declined significantly over the past several decades and that the social safety net that many Mainers rely on has been under assault. Both of these forces, he […]

(t90-second read) Policy in Brief: Complexities in the Opportunity Maine Tax Credit arise depending on when you attend school, when you attend school, and the type of degree you earned. These complexities lead to inequities between individuals who receive benefits from the program: between women and men and between people working in fields in or […]

(Two-minute read) Policy in Brief: Despite recently being in the spotlight as an Arctic player, Maine does not currently have a formal published Arctic strategy.  Due to disinterest at the federal level and other near-Arctic subnational entities creating their own Arctic strategies, it is a good time for Maine to articulate its own Arctic strategy. […]

(three-minute read) Policy in Brief: Mary Helen McSweeney-Feld and Nadine Braunstein note that nursing home closures in the United States have accelerated in the past five years. They examine the premise that low Medicaid reimbursement is the primary reason for the closures of Maine nursing homes and argue that the problem is much more complex. […]

(Two-Minute Read) Policy in Brief: In this Margaret Chase Smith Essay, UM and UMM president, Joan Ferrini-Mundy addresses how the mission of the two schools align with the 2020-2029 Maine Economic Development Strategy. Fascinating Features: The 2020-2029 Maine Economic Development Strategy, released on behalf of Governor Janet Mills by the Maine Department of Economics and Community Development in […]

Policy in Brief: This issue of Maine Policy Review contains articles on a variety of subjects including rural healthcare, workforce development, Maine’s wine industry, workplace safety, the social safety net, and the student loan crisis. As noted by executive editor Linda Silka in her reflections on Vol. 29 No. 1, this particular issue tackles not only longstanding […]

(Two-minute read) Policy in Brief: Author Clem Guthro highlights that visionaries, pundits, cynics, and ordinary citizens have, over the years, waxed eloquent over the idea of a digital library that would make all knowledge accessible. Major players such as the Library of Congress, Internet Archive, members of the Association of Research Libraries, and various state […]

(Four-Minute Read) Policy In Brief: Maine’s food system has enjoyed a recent surge in demand for local food. However, a difficult business climate for farmers, small business owners, and institutions impedes the opportunity for economic growth. The authors of “Using Cooperation Science to Strengthen Maine’s Local Food Economy” argue that it is this difficult climate […]

(two-minute read) Policy in Brief: In “At the Confluence of Public Policy and History: The Value of Historical Thinking in Public Policy Development” Daniel S. Soucier, Research Associate at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, argues that conversations between those who study how policy decisions affected society in the past and those tasked with shaping […]

(Three-Minute Read) Policy in Brief: The authors of this study (Victoria Rideout, Raymond Kennard, Alicia Wilcox, and Mark Flomenbaum) examined suicide deaths in Maine from 2017 and 2018 looking for correlations between age, gender, veteran status, method, and presence of a note in suicide victims. The study revealed correlations between the act of leaving a […]