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Iowa's Free Enterprise Report: 2025 Edition

The Free Enterprise Report is a marquis report that provides an objective, non-partisan, fact-based analysis of the Iowa economic landscape and the state’s most pressing issues. The study is a year long undertaking and includes the CSI Economic Performance Index as well as a Free Enterprise Competitiveness Index across eight different policy areas.

Both indices provide an opportunity to look backwards and better understand where Iowa has been and what direction we are moving. We can better understand how we are performing relative to other states and we can equip policy makers, civic and business leaders with the best understanding of how our state is performing, where we are winning, where we are losing and how free enterprise principles can get us back on track.

 

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Workforce
Demographics are Destiny: How Iowa's Demographics are Shaping the State's Population, Workforce, and Economy

This report identifies the most up-to-date population trends in Iowa, including international and domestic migration and net births.

Jobs & Our Economy
Inflation in the Midwest - January 2025

Midwest inflation was back on the rise in January, growing 3.4% over the last year.

February 12, 2025 Andrzej Wieciorkowski
State Budget
Iowa’s D.O.G.E.: How state government alignment is retuning money back to Iowans and contributing to the state’s economy

CSI found Iowa’s state government alignment enabled Iowa to lower its individual income tax rate from 3.9% to 3.8% two years sooner.

February 04, 2025 Ben Murrey
Taxes & Fees
The Economic Impact of State Restrictions on Interchange Fees

This report serves to both educate and inform the public about interchange fees, their role in the payment card system, and the impacts of payment cards on the economy. Given the novelty of many state speci

February 03, 2025 Zachary Milne