The slumping economy has made Connecticut’s budget front-page news: state revenues are down 20 percent from a year ago, while surging demands for public assistance have governments at all levels stretched thin. The recession raises serious questions about the nature of the slump and public policy responses to it.

What is driving the recession in Connecticut is the focus of the Summer 2009 issue of The Connecticut Economy: A University of Connecticut Quarterly Review. Articles explore the likely impact of collapsing asset prices on the state’s GDP, the size of government in the Nutmeg state relative to the other 49 states, sources of family income inequality across Connecticut, and UConn’s vexing Health Center problem. Also in this issue, guest commentaries by House Majority Leader Denise Merrill and Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero offer contrasting insights on solving the state’s budget crisis.

For free access to this and other issues of The Connecticut Economy, visit: http://cteconomy.uconn.edu/.

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