State and local government fiscal systems have increasingly become vulnerable to economic changes. Over the past three decades, state and local deficits during economic recession have been larger and deeper each time. The impact of the Great Recession and its aftermath of feeble growth and...

States and many localities face the direst fiscal situation that they have encountered in the last 60 years or so, with revenues falling or stagnant while expenditure demands continue to grow. This divergence in incomes versus outgoes means that most states face recurring operating fund deficits...