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Four Generations: Building Relationships and Community (April 2008)
In less than a lifetime, from 1945 to 2008, Florida went from being the smallest state in the South to the fourth largest and one of the most complex states in the nation. Today, Florida has the largest percentage of seniors in the nation, and it has become a testing ground in the United States for the ways in which multiple generations live and work alongside one another. This essay discusses the emergence of this important demographic development and what it means for Florida and its citizens.

Consumer Protection in the Digital Age (March 2008)
March 2-8 is National Consumer Protection Week and to underscore the importance of and need for consumer protection, researchers Dr. Lynne Holt, University of Florida, and Dr. Susan MacManus, University of South Florida, jointly review several types of fraudulent practices that often result in consumer complaints in Florida: identity theft; health insurance fraud; fraud related to home repair, mortgages, and home insurance; and auto repair fraud and price gouging. In “Consumer Protection in the Digital Age,” Holt and MacManus outline government measures to reduce fraudulent practices and analyze data from recent BEBR surveys to explain Floridians’ attitudes toward and concerns about consumer fraud and the manner in which it is perpetrated.

Economic Implications of Florida's Proposed Property Tax Amendment (January 2008)
On January 29 of this year, Floridians will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to reform the state’s property tax system. This proposal arose in response to widespread and growing dissatisfaction with the state’s current system of property taxation. Residents’ complaints about the tax system may be that total taxes are too high, that the distribution of taxes is inequitable, that high taxes on business make Florida uncompetitive, or that the current system “locks” owners in their present homestead properties.

In “Economic Implications of Florida’s Proposed Property Tax Amendment,” the Economic Analysis Program at the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research takes a look at the effects of the proposed reform on each of these complaints. They find that the proposed reform will generally have no impact on the first, will seriously exacerbate the second and third, and improve only the fourth.