This article uses simple and self-contained optimal control theory and martingale methods to find optimal government expenditure consistent with present value balance and, implicitly sustainable saving, borrowing, and tax levels as well, since long-term sustainable paths are, in principle, not...

Oregon has one of the biggest cyclical budget problems in the country, if not the biggest. Without a rainy day fund, Oregon's state government would have a budget shortfall ten years out of twenty; two of which would be equal to or greater than twenty percent of annual spending. Oregon could...

A good tax system must raise sufficient revenue – and do so fairly, efficiently, transparently, and coherently. How do the tax systems of the states stack up in terms of fairness, adequacy, and neutrality? To answer this question, we assess each state’s relative performance in terms of...

Democracy in Chains is a heck of a read, but it is, at its core, fundamentally flawed. Its core is a confrontation with James Buchanan and the origins of public choice theory, which argues that public choice is a backlash to both the New Deal and the civil rights movement. The flaw reflects...

There are several reasons for the obscurity of the organizational process model. Perhaps the most important is the widespread acceptance of the standard economic model, which holds that spending outcomes are determined by the supply of and the demand for publicly provided goods and services and...

The authors write that Oregon couldn't afford to establish a rainy day fund; borrowing in times of state fiscal crisis is cheaper. The only workable alternative to countercyclical saving or borrowing is a substantial overhaul of Oregon's revenue code, and that's a high price to pay for fiscal...

Digital State at the Leading Edge is the first attempt to take a comprehensive view of the impact of IT upon the whole of government, including politics and campaigning, public consultation, service delivery, knowledge management, and procurement.

In this essay, we review the contributions economists, political scientists, and business scientists have made to an understanding of how local school districts, boards of education, school superintendents, and district offices affect student learning and other achievement outcomes of interest,...

In this essay, we define the meaning and content of public value, show how government and business create public value, and briefly explain why their governance arrangements work the way they do. We deal first with business and then government. We conclude that government manages risks and that...