Though there has been a recent outpouring of studies on the determinants of individual happiness, there remains a paucity of research on the influence of specific sub-national government policies. Additionally, theoretical expectations about how fiscal variables influence happiness are unclear,...

Manufacturing provides high paying jobs for nearly 10 percent of working Californians. Compared to the 2004 California median income of slightly more than $37,000, the average annual income earned in manufacturing was $57,000. Based upon a complex, but well accepted method of shift-share...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that have produced the boom-to-bust budget cycles that the State of California has experienced since the passage of Proposition 13. This is first done by examining historical budget patterns for the State to see if there is any evidence...

We use results from the December 2016 CalSpeaks Survey to assess citizen understanding about how the property tax functions and the distributional impact of the tax. Key issues include (1) do California citizens today understand the provisions of Proposition 13 and the implications for how the...

Our objective is an assessment of individual preferences for various revenue options for local government to address inadequate service spending or revenue shortfalls. California offers an especially interesting place to explore such attitudes given Proposition 13 and the resulting decrease in...

Preschool attendance not only benefits the later learning of an individual and her subsequent income, it also provides external benefits to society in the forms of skill spillovers, education peer effects, reduced crime, and less government welfare spending/greater government tax revenue....

This research compares the actual magnitude of fuel taxes to the perceptions of these amounts. The issue is whether misperceptions about fuel taxes are contributing to voter perspectives about transportation finance and investment issues. A survey of likely Michigan voters shows that taxpayers...

This paper is the first step toward a broad research agenda that will define possible ways of measuring urban sprawl in U.S. metropolitan areas, test the notion that fiscal choices by local governments can further urban sprawl, and if appropriate, use this test to form the basis for public...

The swift increase in stand-alone property tax abatement programs (SAPTAPS) allowed within the United States (from 30 percent of the states allowing them in 1964 to 70 percent in 2004), the nationwide erosion in property tax base they likely generate, and the wide variety of arguments given both...