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Models  David Leonhardt, in part replying to my earlier post on
Texas, asks, "why haven’t Democrats had more success in creating
model economic policies on the state level?" I was a bit
confused by the question, as I don't know of any states
conducting large-scale economic policy experiments that
regularly enter the debate as a potential model for the rest of
the nation. The closest example I could come up with is the
Massachusetts health-care reform, which is from a decidedly blue
district. And, as the Economist's Ryan Avent says, it's not
really clear what this excellent red state model would consist
of.  Just taking the most straightforward reading of his
question, he's really not making any sense. Rich states in
America are overwhelmingly blue, and poor states are
overwhelmingly red. The top ten states ranked by gross state
product per capita are, in order: the District of Columbia
(nearly a state), Delaware, Connecticut, New York, Massachus