The high rate of budget stabilization fund adoption during the 1980s is often attributed to the 1980–1982 recession. In this view, states adopted funds to prevent a recurrence of the fiscal crises experienced during that recession. An alternative hypothesis is that some funds adopted during...

This paper provides a new treatment of district location in modeling the determinants of teacher salaries by incorporating the methodology of spatial econometrics. Using a location weighting variable, we examine how starting teacher salaries in one district are influenced by other districts'...

Purpose – Small businesses play a vital role in job creation and economic growth, and previous studies have noted that higher state tax rates may reduce entrepreneurial activity, growth, and hiring. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the...

Municipalities have revenue motives for enforcing traffic laws in addition to public safety motives because many traffic offenses are punished via fines and the issuing municipality often retains the revenue. Anecdotal evidence supports this revenue motive. We empirically test this revenue...

There is anecdotal evidence that local governments use traffic tickets to generate revenue. Using panel data for North Carolina counties, we examine whether changes in local government revenue influence the number of traffic tickets issued. We find strong evidence of an asymmetric response by...