Should Oklahoma Be More Like Texas? A Taxing Decision

In his Presidential Address, Professor Rickman discusses whether Texas should serve as the economic policy model for Oklahoma, particularly in terms of reducing or eliminating the state income tax. He compares Oklahoma’s recent economic performance to that of Texas and other adjacent states. Comparisons are made at both the state and county levels, for different time periods, and for several economic indicators. County-level regression analysis, of all counties, and separately for only border counties, both explicitly and implicitly controls for potential nonpolicy growth influences. He concludes that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant Oklahoma emulating Texas’ economic policies.