Commentary: Illinois should be an economic powerhouse. Why isn't it?

In each of the six R’s critical to economic development — roads, rails, rivers, runways, routers (technology) and research — Illinois is among the top states in the nation. And it’s smack dab in the middle of the world’s largest economy. Illinois should be an economic powerhouse. Why isn’t it?

As to the state’s strengths, take a look at a national highway map. The network of interstates is denser here than in any other state. Illinois is the rail hub of the nation; more than half of all intermodal traffic in the nation passes through Chicagoland. Water? We have plenty of it, in rivers, Lake Michigan, aquifers and rainfall.

Research? The universities of Chicago, Northwestern and Illinois, among others, plus the national Argonne and Fermi labs, offer an enviable mix, with many Nobel laureates. Runways? In 2022, the Official Aviation Guide’s Megahub Connectivity Index ranked O’Hare International Airport the best-connected airport in the world.

Yet, population and job growth in Illinois have lagged both the nation and the rest of the Midwest for decades, as pointed out in a recent Tribune editorial.

What is holding the state down?

Corruption

According to the Anti-Corruption Reports issued by the University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago is the most corrupt city in the nation, while Illinois ranks third in public corruption on a per-capita basis. In 2012, I surveyed 70 Illinois economic development officials. There was a question about corruption. Three-quarters of the respondents said that perceptions of corruption in Illinois had either a negative or highly negative impact on their efforts to recruit business.

Unfunded liabilities

The conservative think tank Wirepoints reported in 2021 that state and local government debt and unfunded pension and employee health care liabilities amounted to $110,000 per every household in Illinois. Business worries that it might well bear the burden of higher future taxes to address this shortfall.

An unbalanced tax regime

We tax some things too much and others not at all. Our property taxes are second highest in the nation. My friends who live near Iowa drive across the Big River for gas that is cheaper by 40 to 50 cents per gallon. On the other hand, we don’t tax services much, which have grown faster than goods. According to Statista, in 2021, services represented 77% of our nation’s gross domestic product, with goods representing just 18%.

High tuition and student debt

In 2000, a higher education research group gave Illinois among the highest marks nationally for quality and affordability of our universities. This year, however, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Illinois system of higher ed 38th in the nation, dragged down by high tuition and student debt. Almost half our high school graduates who go on to four-year college do so out of state, the second highest percentage among the states. Unfortunately, most of our talented out-of-state students likely never return.

Lack of an entrepreneurial tradition

A former Rust Belt manufacturing state, Illinois tradition has been big, slow and safe, rather than of nimble startups with excitement for risk and reward.

Bad business climate

Chief Executive magazine regularly ranks Illinois as having one of the worst business climates in the nation. Organized labor dominates the dominant Illinois Democratic Party. In 2022, to show its muscle, organized labor rammed through a state constitutional amendment that expands collective bargaining rights beyond those of any state. Ouch, say business leaders who might otherwise like to locate in Illinois.

Bad reputation

A major survey by Public Policy Polling conducted in 2011 and 2012 asked thousands of Americans if they had favorable or unfavorable views of each state, respectively. Illinois was one of just a handful of states that had more unfavorable than favorable views.

Absence of long-term thinking

Illinois has never looked ahead comprehensively. Why not? Our political culture focuses exclusively on the short game, that is, the next two-year election cycle.

What to do? Two actions would be a start. The Edgar Fellows Program, led by former Gov. Jim Edgar, has nurtured more than 400 aspiring, bipartisan Illinois leaders, many of whom are moving into key elected positions. Some of these leaders should take it upon themselves to create a task force on long-term thinking, like Texas 2036.

Second, we can restore checks and balances in Illinois politics by eliminating the gerrymander, which has created lopsided Democratic supermajorities in the state legislature. This can be done by a challenge in state courts to the unconstitutional 2021 remap and by a voter-driven constitutional amendment to require fair maps.

With its great strengths, Illinois can again become the economic superpower it once was.

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Jim Nowlan has been an Illinois state legislator, senior aide to three governors and campaign manager for moderate Republican U.S. Senate and presidential candidates. He is co-author of“Illinois Politics: A Citizen’s Guide to Power, Politics and Policy” (University of Illinois Press, 2024).

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