Migration raises a potential free rider problem for th eprovision of durable local goods if the late-comers can enjoy the public good without paying for it. Allowing communities to finance public goods by debt mitigates this problem, since future immigrants have to share the burden of the debt....

This Feature considers the debts of quasi-sovereign states in light of proposals to let them file for bankruptcy protection. States that have ceded some but not all sovereign prerogatives to a central government face distinct challenges as debtors. It is unhelpful to analyze these challenges...

This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal decentralization and budgetary performance in a sample of 28 OECD countries over the period 1995-2008, characterized by a consolidation of their average debt ratio. Two empirical questions are addressed: first, did expenditure and revenue...

According to the results of H1 2018, the growth rates of revenues of consolidated budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation largely exceeded the current level of the rate of inflation, so, at year-end most regional and local budgets can expect growth in their real incomes. A...

How responsive is the supply of tax-exempt bonds to state and local government borrowing costs? This question is critical to the effectiveness of current federal tax policies designed to stimulate investment in infrastructure and education. Would states borrow more if their cost of capital were...

Conventional wisdom argues that competitive bidding, compared to negotiated sale, can reduce the interest cost of municipal bonds in the primary market. Studies correcting for self-selection bias have mixed findings. However, these studies are subject to some potential methodological issues....

We examine how coordination between elected officials and voters impacts local governments' borrowing costs. Using the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as an identifying shock that implicitly raised the cost of local public goods for residents, we show in a difference-in-differences framework that the...

I investigate consumption smoothing (sensitivity) under a balanced budget rule in Swedish municipalities. In general, I find Swedish municipalities to be highly consumption sensitive during the time period 2001-2011 when the BBR was in place. A one percentage increase in predicted current...