Hoosier state as a laboratory

You know California is in bad shape when The Economist compares it with Texas and wonders which is best.

An opinion piece in
its upcoming issue verges on placing them on a virtually even plane.

California still has the best universities, culture and venture capitalists, the magazine argues. But itâ??s nearly ungovernable
and, lately, a financial train wreck.

Texas is more fiscally responsible and attracts business rather than repelling it. Texas also deals better with Latinos, although
educational shortcomings might lead to bureaucracies like the ones now strangling â??the once golden state.â??

â?? â?¦ to give Texas some credit and serve as a warning to Mr. Schwarzeneggerâ??s heir, at this moment Americaâ??s two most futuristic
states look a lot more like equals than ever before,â?? the piece says.

Which raises a question about Indiana: As one of 50 laboratories, what has the state contributed in the way of answers?

For the sake of discussion, think back a couple of decades or more. If the magazine had lumped Indiana into its piece, what
would it have said? What should it have been said?