Illinois and Missouri both lost ground this year in Site Selection magazine’s influential business climate ranking. The magazine’s latest league table, based partly on a survey of executives and partly on actual plant-location decisions, has Illinois No. 14 and Missouri No.…

The Corporation for Enterprise Development, which espouses policies that help Americans build savings, start businesses and buy homes, gives middling marks to both Missouri and Illinois.

Both states got solid C’s on CFED’s latest Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. That’s better than…

Advantage Capital Partners, a venture capital firm with an office in Clayton, hopes to raise $50 million to invest in alternative-energy companies in Missouri and Illinois. R. Foster Duncan, a managing director of Advantage, mentioned the new fund Friday at…

After I wrote a column critical of Illinois’ local-food law, a couple of readers accused me of ignoring the energy used in shipping food. A comment from Oni, for example, said:

Shipping food all over the place has several problems not mentioned…

The federal government’s “cash for clunkers” program is plenty confusing, especially with the Senate still deciding whether to give it more money. One issue that’s sowing confusion in some parts of the country, though, isn’t a problem in Missouri or Illinois: Neither…

Farm real-estate values are down this year for the first time since 1987, a new Agriculture Department report shows. The 3.2 percent nationwide decline, to an average of $2,100 an acre, is partly about crop prices and partly about the…

Missouri still stands to lose more than 20,000 jobs before its economy turns around, and Illinois will still shed more than 40,000 jobs, according to a new forecast from IHS Global Insight. The firm also predicts that Missouri won’t regain…

As St. Louis and Clayton consider smoking bans, economists Thomas Garrett and Michael Pakko are trying to settle a debate on the effects of the ban that took effect in Illinois last year. The state’s casinos say the ban is costing them…

Illinois isn’t the hardest-hit state in this recession — Michigan has lost far more jobs, and housing problems are worse in states like California and Arizona. The Land of Lincoln does, however, lead the league with 12 bank closings so…

According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Terry Savage, Illinois is close to a deal that would recoup $77 million from the manager of the state’s Bright Start college savings plan. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has been trying to negotiate a settlement with Oppenheimer Funds,…