Discusses the results of the 2010 decennial census for Arizona, with comparisons to the nation and other states, and for Arizona counties and places. Changes between 2000 and 2010 are included. In addition to the total population, the population living in households, and the population living in group quarters, the following topics are discussed: household type, race and ethnicity, age, housing units and vacancies, and homeownership. The data are available in two accompanying Excel files.

Volume I: Facts
Analyses of Arizona state government finance, using data of the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and of the combined finances of all state and local governments within Arizona, using data of the U.S. Census Bureau. A historical perspective is provided for both datasets. For combined state and local government finance, comparisons are made to other states and to the national average. In addition, other measures of the tax burden by state are examined.

Volume II: Concepts and Issues
Addresses the conceptual and empirical relationships between taxes, government revenue, and economic growth. Also discusses current issues specific to Arizona state government finance. This is a revised version of the report "Tax Reductions, the Economy, and the Deficit in the Arizona State Government General Fund," incorporating new and updated material.

Volume III: Options for Managing the Arizona State General Fund
Presents options and offers recommendations for managing the Arizona state government general fund. The near-term budget deficit is addressed as well as ways to prevent budget deficits from recurring every time economic growth slows.

The purpose of the stabilization fund is to reduce the fluctuations in general fund revenue caused by the economic cycle. These fluctuations result in large budget surpluses in some years and large deficits in other years. Without considering the structural deficit, the budget stabilization fund almost certainly will not have the funding necessary to offset the cyclical reduction in revenue that will occur during the next recession.

If Arizona is going to be successful not only in improving minority access to higher education, but more importantly, minority student success in higher education, a systematic approach needs to be developed. The answers to improving minority access and achievement in higher education requires a holistic view of education as a system as well as an integrated look into the drivers of academic success. A fundamental problem exists with current policies designed to improve minority representation in higher education. Arizona’s lack of both a systematic view of the problem and the creation of a framework to evaluate policy ideas are sources of these disappointing results. The purpose of this paper is to fill in the gap by providing a framework of focus for academic success to be used to enhance Arizona’s approach to higher education policy.

This coloring book was designed at the Phoenix Center for the Arts by a couple of our artists as a tool for students to learn about air pollution and to take preventative actions and become good environmental stewards. It is something fun for children to do while at the same time providing a good story that’s instructive about protecting human health and the environment.

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the educational achievement and attainment of Latinos living in Arizona. In short, the educational performance and attainment of Hispanics lags considerably behind that of the state’s non-Hispanic white residents. Moreover, the growth in the number of Hispanics, especially children, has far outpaced that of the non-Hispanic white population, raising the importance of this educational gap. This issue was highlighted in the 2001 Morrison Institute report Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona’s Future.

The specific goal of this report is to assess the future of Hispanic educational performance and attainment in Arizona, but this outlook is dependent to a very sizable extent on the characteristics of the Hispanics living in Arizona. In particular, the educational achievement and attainment of Hispanic immigrants has been substantially less than that of Hispanics born in the United States. Forecasting Hispanic immigration specifically and the characteristics of the Hispanic population generally is extremely difficult for two reasons: severe data limitations, and recent legal and policy changes related to immigration.

In 1993, the Arizona-Mexico Commission and its sister organization, the Comisión Sonora-Arizona, initiated a binational strategic economic planning process to analyze how the two neighboring states could increase their regional competitiveness in the world economy and enhance the overall quality of life for their residents. One of the recommendations of the Strategic Economic Development Vision was to develop a set of indicators as a tool to monitor progress toward the goals of binational economic development. The purpose of the Regional Economic Indicators is to help policy and decision-makers understand and monitor economic changes in the Arizona-Sonora region and to support policies that promote economic transformation, investment and entrepreneurship in the region.