The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government. To that end, we will formulate and advocate public policies that roll back the size and scope of local government as well as create a more accountable government. Our efforts will be guided by the principles of free enterprise, property rights, civil society and individual freedom that are the bedrock upon which this nation was founded.
Summary: On May 13, the Allegheny County Board of Health (board) voted to open a public comment period on an amendment to Article XXIV of the Health Department’s rules and regulations which would expand its existing paid sick leave policy and establish a countywide paid parental leave policy. This Brief will analyze the proposals’ economical shortcomings.
In April 2026, the NFL held its annual player draft in the City of Pittsburgh. Allegheny County, the city and the state contributed a combined estimated $14 million to prepare for, and assist in, the NFL’s Draft proceedings. By all accounts the three-day event went well. Recently an estimate of the economic impact was released by a firm which has done similar studies for other cities that have hosted the NFL Draft. Succinctly, the report indicates the draft and related activities produced $177 million in economic activity.
VisitPittsburgh’s estimate of a $177 million economic impact from the city’s hosting of the NFL Draft is not independently verifiable, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy.
“By all accounts the three-day event went well,” says Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Pittsburgh think tank (in Policy Brief Vol. 26, No. 31). “Recently, an estimate of the economic impact was released by a firm which has done similar studies for other cities that have hosted the NFL Draft.
Transit Revitalization Investment Districts (TRIDs) are a politically motivated gimmick to get more people out of cars and into public transit that has run into reality, concludes a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy.
“The bottom line is that for all the effort to write the legislation that establishes the methodology and requirements to create [it] — and the implicit promises of a major boost in public transit use — TRID is an abject failure,” says Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Pittsburgh think tank (in Policy Brief Vol. 26, No. 30).
