We compare characteristics of municipal debt issues in states that mandate GAAP for municipalities with issues in states that impose no annual financial disclosure requirements. Cross-sectional comparisons indicate that the use of public (versus private) debt is greater, and municipal debt costs...

We examine recent regulation requiring US municipal governments to disclose private debt. We show that governments fail to disclose 55-80% of reportable debt events and that, conditional on disclosure, filings often omit contract details essential for bond pricing. Non-compliant issuers are also...

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments were among the sectors expected to experience the most severe distress. The combination of a sharply deteriorating revenue picture, a pressing need for additional expenditures, delays in the receipt of substantial taxes owed, and...

We hand-collect new data on municipal bonds issued by all states and the largest 100 cities in the U.S. between 1920 and 2020 and study how the terms of municipal bond financing evolved over the last century. We document a striking decline of almost 50% in the maturity of these bonds. We analyze...

Credit ratings are pivotal for municipal bonds as they determine borrowing cost for state and local level governments that are ultimately born by taxpayers. Prior to 2010 credit rating recalibration, municipal bonds were rated by major credit ratings agencies on a separate rating scale that...

This paper shows that state tax policy significantly affects the transmission of asset purchase programs into municipal bond prices. I establish theoretically and empirically two parameters that determine prices in the cross section: the tax rates of in-state investors and the aggregate wealth...

This paper shows that climate risk mitigation strategies are priced in financial markets. Using extreme weather and natural capital loss shocks, I demonstrate that the municipal bond market starts to price natural capital following an extreme weather event. The yield spread between counties that...

We investigate the association between a wide range of environmental and social outcomes and the credit risk of municipal finance fixed income securities. Building on recent work documenting the pricing of climate risk, future opioid health care costs and race-based investor preferences at the...