Too many young people still leave Mississippi to chase opportunities elsewhere. MCPP is on a mission to help change that - by creating the conditions for real, sustained growth so our children and grandchildren choose to stay, build lives, and thrive right here in our state.
The good news? Mississippi is no longer a laggard, but leading. Thanks to free-market reforms, we're now one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. Over the past five years, we've seen more economic growth than in the previous 15 combined. In 2024, Mississippi ranked #2 nationally in real GDP growth. Historic tax cuts have put more money back in families' pockets, flexible labor laws and affordable energy have attracted over $40 billion in investments since 2020, and fiscal discipline has kept us on solid ground. Building on this remarkable momentum, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy recently launched our latest paper at an event in Jackson: Mississippi Momentum: A Blueprint for Lasting Prosperity. This blueprint outlines targeted, practical reforms to accelerate our progress and secure long-term prosperity. Key proposals include: 1. Universal school choice through a phased-in Education Savings Account (ESA) program - starting with thousands of students and expanding to make every family empowered to choose the best education path for their child.
2. Healthcare freedom by partially repealing Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws and
granting full practice authority to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses -
reducing costs by up to 15% and improving access, especially in rural areas.
3. Conservative spending to limit government growth to inflation plus population
increases, protecting our tax cuts and generating surpluses for future relief or
priorities.
3. Conservative spending to limit government growth to inflation plus population increases, protecting our tax cuts and generating surpluses for future relief or priorities.
4. Welfare-to-work requirements for able-bodied adults on TANF and SNAP,
promoting self-reliance and drawing on successful models from other states.
5. Merit-based procurement reforms to ensure transparent, competitive public
contracts focused on price, quality, and expertise - ending favoritism and waste.
These ideas are already shaping the policy conversation in Mississippi. Many of the
reforms outlined in this blueprint are now central to debates at the Capitol. While
important work remains, the direction is clear: Mississippi can continue to grow faster,
compete harder, and lead the nation in pro-growth reform.
Readers can access the full report: Mississippi Momentum: A Blueprint for Prosperity (KF: Or read it below)
I hope you find our latest paper inspiring and useful.
As someone who moved 4,000 miles with my family to make our home in the Magnolia
State, I am more certain than ever that Mississippi can lead the way for other states in
America to follow.Douglas Carswell authored this post and is the President of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
This post is sponsored by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
15 comments:
I love Mississippi more than the next guy, but a state lives and dies by its cities. College graduates live in cities after graduation. We have to have a booming city to keep our grads. Tupelo, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Oxford, or Jackson has to have some serious momentum and we can do it. It is very simple. Wish our state leaders would pick one county and just go all in on attracting as much as possible.
I skimmed the PDF and didn’t see anything about the coming unemployment rate of 90% due to AI and outsourcing. That’s really the topic on people’s minds right now. Basically, when will my boss find a $50 a month subscription for an AI agent to replace me?
The states which have implemented school choice have all provably declined on academic achievement tests. Why are they still pushing this garbage ??
The same people you call out because they oppose school choice are the ones responsible all of this in the legislature ! School choice has absolutely nothing to do with any of this and it not coming back anytime soon. Tate is ruthless and he will be counting his votes for a special session, unlike the House leadership and he knows he doesn’t have it.
They aren't just leaving for good jobs, but also because of the crime, blight, corruption, etc.
How about cities like Detroit or Chicago
Bad teachers not bad schools
School choice and no certificate of need will not make educated, young people decide to live in Jackson, Tupelo, Hattiesburg when they can go to Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, and make much more money.
We are a collection of small and tiny towns with very little for educated people to do beyond work as educators, health care providers, some state employment jobs, and a handful of professionals scattered at different points. A Dollar General, fast food restaurant, and gas station aren't bad things but when this is the extent of business in most small towns those who can will leave for bigger and better.
Do whatever it takes to make Jackson, Hattiesburg, Gulfport more attractive and desirable. None of those are easy places to turn around but their locations and relative sizes have potential.
I grew up in Mississippi and have lived all over the US and several countries abroad. What I miss the most about Mississippi (besides family) is the low pollution. Yes, there is trash on the highways and Jackson has had some issues with sewage flowing into the Pearl River. However, if anyone has been to a really polluted city then you know that the Jackson Metro is clean and beautiful in comparison. Right now I really miss that clean Rankin County air so much.
Mississippi is a rural plantation state with a few cotton camps we choose to call cities. Young people are not particularly interested unless the job market in the big fast cities dries up.
@1:51pm Trash on the highways hasn't been bad lately, and when it's there usually they get out and clean it up. Especially in Jackson thanks to hero Locke Ward. But you are so right. One of the best parts about Jackson, albeit all the issues, is low traffic and almost zero air pollution. It's as green as Louisiana but with high ground and hills.
A reader submitted this one. I took out a couple of words that shouldn't have been used as it is a good comment.
@1:36pm ...... did you even read what I said? Duh, every small town in the south is dollar general, fast food, and gas stations. The ENTIRE point was we need growth in one city to make it boom and the rest of the state will follow. Thank you for pointing out the obvious, I guess?
All it takes is a couple of large investments and the snowball starts to roll. Look at Huntsville. Not centrally located but a large rocket testing program back in the day make them an engineering hub now. Our coast has the Stennis Space Center, Anduril's new facility, and a massive Chevron refinery, along with one of two Ingalls Shipyards (and of course, many other businesses I don't even know about). You can't tell me that one of our awesome coastal cities can't boom, being sandwiched between the port of Mobile and port of New Orleans and close to I-10.
This is just an example. Hol-Mac, Jones, and Howard Industries are in the Pine Belt. How hard would it be for Hattiesburg, Laurel, Meridian to experience a manufacturing/logistics boom?
And to your point about there being nothing but public jobs, Jackson area alone has C-Spire, Cal-Maine, Ergon, many large construction companies, Trustmark, FCCI, etc.. Vicksburg barge industry, Continental in Clinton, Nissan Canton. There are private sector jobs to be had. You said they can make much more money in larger cities, which is true, but they will live in a shoebox apartment or a new construction cardboard house and pay three times what they will in any Mississippi city.
There is no work ethic in our youth, shit nobody wants to work they want a paycheck. As long as we pay folks to sit around and eat they will do so. Hunger is a great motivator, and very few people today have ever been truly hungry. Go to Walmart and you'll see relatively young 300# plus fatasses riding on scooters shoveling crap food in their carts. There are jobs available right now, the problem is no one actually wants to work.
Well I'm the reader at 1:36 and I will bite back if allowed. Yes, there are private jobs available in the places you've named and of course they exist in others. There just isn't a large number of large employers that offer white collar, college educated jobs which is what many of our young college graduates want. The places you pale in comparison to what's offered in larger cities which also have large pockets of young people from across the country that live there where they can socialize and meet future spouses.
Huntsville has exploded and is a great area. It's also located 100 or so miles from the Metro Nashville area and another 100 or so miles to Birmingham so location is part of the draw. Mississippi has Jackson. It's between Memphis and New Orleans which are not high on the desirable list for young graduates. What's happened in Jackson is very sad and it will not turn around anytime soon. The Mississippi coast has more potential overall but is made up of small cities in three different counties that all compete with one another for the same resources.
I want Mississippi to succeed. I'd love to see us prosper. But the 23 year old engineer and CPA will go where the money and fun is after graduation.
There are jobs available right now, the problem is no one actually wants to work.
Wrong. Nobody wants to work for wages that won’t pay their bills. If you are still going to be destitute after working 60 hours a week, why bother?
We are living in a K shaped economy created by government corruption and collusion with central bank funded oligarchs. The same bunch of oligarchs and politicians who seem to have their names in the Epstein files!
You must be a boomer to still think that people should be loyal to their employers and bust your ass to make a dime an hour so the boss man can make $100 (not $1 anymore)
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