New Orleans       A research project funded by Tulane University in New Orleans had some sad news for Louisiana.  Pulling together a bunch of researchers and going through a huge set of data dating back to 1990 on more than 30 categories, the Murphy Institute was trying to get a fix on where each state stood in each category and overall compared to each other tin a State of the States report.  Louisiana ranked dead last, 51^st out of all of the US states and the District of Columbia.  The researchers gulped, only saying, “we let the data speak.”

The data spoke loudly, but not just for Louisiana.  Southern states, unsurprisingly, were clumped at the bottom, as usual.  Arkansas was 43^rd for example.  Nevada, New Mexico, and West Virginia were just above Louisiana, with Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama between Louisiana and Arkansas.

Still, the report argues that geography is not destiny, noting the following about the south…

The lower standing of the South might not seem surprising for the economic mea­sures where such regional differences go back centuries. Still, most of our measures are non-economic, where state rankings have not been previously or widely report­ed. In particular, we looked at the state/regional rankings just for personal well-be­ing (life satisfaction and depression) and social well-being (mostly trust measures). Those results suggest that Southern states also have especially low levels of trust in institutions. Many of these trust measures pertain to government institutions, which means that Southern states distrust even their own state and local governments. On the other hand, Southern states are actually in the middle of the pack on personal well-being. Mountain states (e.g. Arizona, Colorado, and Montana), in contrast, have high levels of trust, but the lowest levels of personal well-being.

In essence, we’re poorer than most, but happier.  Louisiana is 11^th in depression rates for adults and 12^th for children, “both below the national average” with “life satisfaction [and suicide rate] in the middle of the pack.”  It’s a rough crowd, but on those measures, Louisiana does better.

The report finds that across the country even though there were economic positives, no state was improving on an “alarming number of measures.”  The data also found that just as politics has split the country red and blue, there is also a divergence where states are increasing the gap between each other, with some doing increasingly doing very well and others much more poorly.

When it comes to “well-being”, especially compared to global surveys and each other, we pretty much all suck on those measures.  Americans aren’t happy with their lot.  The data finds us increasingly worried, anxious, and depressed.

If politicians examine this report, it’s bad news for incumbents.  Unhappy voters, if they get to the polls, vote for change.  Maybe that’s also good news?