A substantial fraction of local governments refinance their long-term debt with significant delays - resulting in sizable losses. Using data from 2001 to 2018, we estimate that U.S. municipals lost over $31 billion from this delayed refinancing, whereas the entire U.S. corporate sector, facing...

This paper identifies the impact of fluctuations in the supply of capital from mutual funds on municipal bond financing and makes three contributions to the literature. First, we develop an identification strategy based on the Morningstar rating methodology at the moment that funds reach 5 years...

This paper considers the impact of federal deductibility on the level and composition of state and local taxes. It also considers the importance of deductibility in determining the vote of state Congressional delegations on the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Particular emphasis should be placed on the...

Compared to the federal government, the average citizen in the U.S. has far greater interaction with city governments, including policing, health services, zoning laws, utilities, schooling, and transportation. At the regional level, it is city governments that provide the infrastructure and...

We analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government finances, with an emphasis on health spending needs and the role of the Medicaid program. We arrive at three conclusions. First, we find that nationwide, and over the entirety of the federal budget window, the enhanced...

The existing political and legal institutions of fiscal policy-making are under challenge. As the United States and the eastern European and Soviet states experiment with policy decentralization, the states of western Europe are looking to a more centralized policy structure via the E.E.C.. This...

Financing retirement -- Were they prepared for retirement? : financial status at advanced ages in the HRS and AHEAD cohorts / James M. Poterba, Steven F. Venti, and David A. Wise ; comment, David Laibson -- Economic preparation for retirement / Michael D. Hurd and Susann Rohwedder ; comment,...