Pension data for local governments are generally unavailable. Hence, prior re­search has relied on pension ratios as proxies for underfunding. In this paper, we utilize data from Pennsylvania where local governments are required to report unfunded obligations on an actuarial basis to a state...

This paper provides an empirical test of the association between the MFOA Certificate of Conformance and creditor decisions in the market for new municipal bond issues. We report that the certificate does have information content for creditor decisions, particularly for medium quality bonds

Given the "pervasive and powerful influence" of published ratings, an attempt was made to explain municipal bond ratings using information normally obtainable from financial reports. It appears that rating assignments are more closely associated with the flow of liquid financial resources from...