In this paper we develop and resolve a tension amidst several widely held – and sensible – general propositions concerning municipal public finance. On the one hand, local governments are supposed to be scrupulous protectors of public dollars. And yet there is also widespread agreement that...

Should the federal government be involved in the regulation of municipal debt finance? The answer is arguably not. But this theoretical dispute is not the focus of this Article because, in fact, the federal government already regulates municipal debt finance extensively, generally much more...