Productivity and Prosperity

Declines Relative to the Nation in Arizona’s Government Finance, Educational Attainment, and Economic Performance


Dennis Hoffman, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University Economist, and Director, L. William Seidman Research Institute
Tom Rex, M.B.A.
Associate Director, Center for Competitiveness and Prosperity Research, and Manager of Research Initiatives, Office of the University Economist

Analyzes Arizona’s decline in government finance, educational attainment, and economic performance relative to the nation. Since the late 1960s relative to the U.S. average, decreases have occurred in Arizona in the share of the state’s personal income spent by state government, in educational attainment, and in measures of productivity and prosperity.


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Dennis Hoffman, Ph.D.
Dennis Hoffman, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University Economist, and Director, L. William Seidman Research Institute

Dennis received a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Grand Valley State University, a M.S. in economics from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University in 1978. He has served on the faculty of the Department of Economics at ASU since 1979, as director of ASU’s L. William Seidman Research Institute since 2004, and as the director of the Office of the University Economist since 2005.

Tom Rex, M.B.A.
Tom Rex, M.B.A.
Associate Director, Center for Competitiveness and Prosperity Research, and Manager of Research Initiatives, Office of the University Economist

After receiving his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toledo, Tom earned his Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University in 1976. After working in the private sector, he joined ASU in 1980, working for the predecessor of the L. William Seidman Research Institute. Since 2005, he has served as manager of research initiatives in the Office of the University Economist.


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