We develop a new measure of relative debt transparency by comparing the amount of state debt reported in the annual Census survey and the amount reported in the statistical section of the state Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). GASB 44 requires states to start reporting their total...

Deficits and debts are very complex issues for eternal public debate. The norm of budget balance - whether as a value judgment or ideal, as a political symbol or as a budgetary principle - often appears in literature and public debate over federal budgetary and fiscal policies. This paper offers...

This article examines the theory behind the design of fiscal transfers; it identifies acyclicality of transfers as a drawback and proposes counter cyclical design as an optimal fiscal framework to mitigate cyclical economic fluctuations. It further advocates counter-cyclical transfers for...

This paper formulates a model of countercyclical use of long-term full faith and credit debt by subnational governments to finance infrastructure. The model incorporates long-term debt into budgetary policy, considering debt capacity, purposes and security of debt, and equity. The proposition is...

This paper explores how the saving behavior of state governments is affected by adopting the budget stabilization fund (BSF) and by the state's balanced budget requirements (BBR). As a fiscal/budgetary institution, BSFs with unique design features and varying combinations of the BBR articles...

A growing literature has sought to demonstrate when and how government capacity links to performance. This article examines those questions in the area of financial management. A basic challenge for state governments is to maintain budgetary stability and program predictability in face of...

By re-examining the fiscal and budgetary priorities of the Carter administration at its 30th anniversary, this article offers a different view from previous studies about Carter policies. The author proposes three things: first, that the late-1970s were a transition from the Liberalist Movement...