Accounting conventions usually leave some room for judgment, which governments may be tempted to take advantage of, especially when fiscal rules bite or threaten to do so. The European experience over the past decade -- documented here in great detail -- illustrates that fiscal gimmicks come in...

We examine how local newspaper closures affect public finance outcomes for local governments. Following a newspaper closure, municipal borrowing costs increase by 5 to 11 basis points, costing the municipality an additional $650 thousand per issue. This effect is causal and not driven by...

Purpose – The relationship between state and peasants are reflected as the distribution of the economic benefits to each party. The purpose of this paper is to explore the essential change of the relationship from the fiscal term since the beginning of the new century....

The Australian public sector experiences significant turmoil in performance information disclosures as it adopts New Public Financial Management oriented changes. While these changes aim to promote greater accountability, we raise concerns about the effectiveness of current disclosures,...

The staggered passage of state medical marijuana laws increases state bonds' offering and trading spreads by 7-11 basis points. Consistent with medical marijuana laws causing an increase in states' credit risk, states incur higher safety and public welfare expenditures and experience greater...