Missouri Has Fallen Behind

Economy 

As a destination for families and businesses, Missouri has not kept pace with the nation. If its population had grown at the national average rate, there would be 1.2 million more Missourians right now. Only 30 percent of business owners agree, according to a Gallup poll, that Missouri is able to attract or retain top talent.

Missouri’s public-school enrollment has been stagnant for at least a decade, while the national numbers have increased by over 8 percent. It’s long past time to reverse this pattern and set Missouri on a path to lead the region.

Five Pillars for Making Missouri Best in the Region

Reinvigorating Missouri’s economy to make it the most attractive state in the region to businesses and families requires that we think boldly, act decisively, and abandon the status quo. The Show-Me Institute is developing a transformative framework based on five pillars that will help solidify Missouri’s economic strengths, unleash its untapped potential, and address its most pressing vulnerabilities.

1. People: Realize the Full Individual Potential of Missouri’s Greatest Asset—Its People

Make Missouri the top state in the region at preparing people with the skills and knowledge to succeed in an evolving economy and lead lives of productive work and informed citizenship.

• Move K-12 to the front of the pack at preparing children for college or the workforce.
• Attract families to Missouri by empowering them to choose the schooling option that best fits their children’s needs.
• Make the higher ed system more responsive to the needs of families, businesses, and entrepreneurs in the knowledge economy to help stem brain drain.

Make Missouri the best in the region at promoting wellness and supporting the physical and mental capacity of its citizens to provide for their families and serve their communities.

• Remove regulatory and financial barriers that obstruct access to quality healthcare.
• Repair the healthcare safety net to ensure that all Missourians have access to timely, affordable, high-quality care.
• Leverage Missouri’s natural amenities to provide rest, recreation, and restoration.

Make Missouri’s workers the most prepared, adaptable, and resilient in the region.

• Remove regulatory and financial impediments to occupational and job mobility.
• Ensure workers can continuously upgrade skills to adapt to an ever-changing economy and avoid dislocation.
• Reform the safety net to facilitate work instead of trapping people in dependency.
• Incentivize high schools in all types of communities throughout the state to graduate students who are college- and career ready.

2. Infrastructure: Repair the Physical and Technological Infrastructure that Connects Businesses and Communities

Make Missouri’s transportation, power, and communication systems the best in the region.

• Reduce man-made and environmental disruptions to everyday life and commerce through better roads and bridges, a more resilient utility network, and high-speed internet.
• Improve public transportation to connect people and places safely and efficiently.

Make Missouri the top state in the region for affordable, accessible, and adaptable housing.

• Facilitate new construction to ease pricing pressure and increase housing access.
• Modernize regulations to allow greater adaptability of the existing stock of housing.

3. Entrepreneurship: Revitalize the Environment for Small Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Make Missouri the easiest state in the region to start, relocate, or expand a business.

• Streamline legal requirements and remove red tape.
• Encourage platforms that connect people seeking funds with investors looking for ideas.
• Address skill gaps and mismatches so that businesses can find the workers they need.

Make Missouri #1 in the region for cutting-edge, innovation.

• Use the research capacity of Missouri universities and institutes to encourage private-sector innovation partnerships that develop and test new technologies.
• Remove barriers to innovation in business practices, work arrangements, and zoning in all types of communities.

4. Economy: Restructure Missouri Finances to Improve Fiscal Resilience and Better Steward Taxpayer Dollars

Make Missouri the most fiscally sound, economically forward-looking state in the country.

• Redesign the tax code to enhance growth and broad-based economic opportunity.
• Control legacy costs and entitlement programs to honor promises, protect taxpayers, reduce budget stress, and enable investment in the future.
• Revamp budget processes to enhance transparency, bolster resilience in crises, and create greater flexibility to re-evaluate priorities.

5. Criminal Justice: Restore the Legal System to Promote Public Safety and Justice and Fight Abusive Government.

Make Missouri communities the safest in the region to live in and work.

• Establish an environment that encourages respect for the rule of law.
• Build trust between communities and law enforcement.
• Ensure that sentencing guidelines promote safety by keeping dangerous offenders off the street and reducing the chance that first-time offenders become career criminals.
• Remove barriers to successful reintegration of ex-convicts into society.

Make Missouri’s court system the frontrunner in the region at delivering justice, redressing injustice, restoring rights, and protecting citizens from abuse by government authorities.

• Reform laws that apply to low-level infractions when those laws fail to enhance safety or protect individual rights.