Regional wage convergence has long been predicted across the United States as barriers to factor mobility have fallen, yet there is little evidence (apart from a brief period in the 1970s and 1980s) that convergence has actually occurred. Why not? I reexamine this issue by developing a model in...

Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has increased markedly in recent years in the U.S. and Europe, and some have posited a link between this phenomenon and subpar economic growth in advanced economies (see Baker, Bloom, and Davis, 2015). But methodological and data concerns have thus far raised...

We present a model of optimizing government behavior in which a need for increased revenue leads to the introduction of a new revenue source, such as a VAT, accompanied by a reduction in income taxes. We argue that this is a plausible outcome for the United States, in view of international...

Texas' reliance on sales and property taxes makes its revenue-raising methods more regressive than those in most other states. Texas lawmakers, facing increasing demands for services, confront a desire to maintain the state's attractiveness to business even as inequities continue in how the...

The recent oil price collapse has adversely affected Texas' budget situation and slowed the growth of its rainy-day fund. While energy continues to play an important role in Texas, the state has been better economically and fiscally positioned than most other energy states

Corporate tax reform has become a high-profile issue amid fears that firms are increasingly taking their headquarters and production facilities offshore and booking profits abroad. Adjustments to the tax system can help address these factors, though not without potentially introducing new issues