Some analysts blame the large state discretionary revenue increases of the early 1990's on recessionary declines in revenue and on federally mandated spending increases. Others cite rapid increases in state government spending, particularly on employee compensation, during the 1980's. Test the...

Static and dynamic translog cost models for the aggregate U.S. state and local government sector are estimated for 1952 to 1985. Inputs are capital, labor, and a combined nondurable goods and other services input, which includes "privatized" services. Estimates show that capital and labor are...

Shows that when interest rates rise above the penalty rate on delinquent property taxes, taxpayers have an incentive to delay their property tax payments, using their local governments as cheap credit sources. States that property tax delinquency as a percent of the tax levy should rise with the...

To maintain an all-volunteer force, military pay levels must be high enough to attract a sufficient quantity and quality of volunteers. Congress's commitment to maintaining such pay levels has been questioned. In this article we test a model of congressional military pay setting for the...

We investigate the determinants of United States automobile registrations in states in 1986, focusing on state and local taxes and fees, and on auto insurance premiums. Using data on state tax and fee structures and the results of a phone survey of states where automobiles are subject to...

Many recent state and local expenditure determinant studies have modeled public choice as the result of the constrained maximization of a utility function. This model has been tested using particular utility functions, but rejection of constrained maximization under such a test may imply only...

We test several hypotheses about coalition forming in legislatures using data on Indiana school finance from the 1990s. School district state aid per pupil is regressed on district characteristics and political characteristics of each district's legislators. Results show no evidence of policy...