The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government Finance


Book Description

This handbook evaluates the persistent problems in the fiscal systems of state and local governments and what can be done to solve them. Each chapter provides a description of the discipline area, examines major developments in policy practices and research, and opines on future prospects.




Capital Budgeting and Finance


Book Description

An up-to-date, comprehensive, and detailed how-to manual for planning and financing successful capital projects, written by a nationally known and award-winning expert on capital budgeting, A. John Vogt. Clearly explains capital budgeting approaches and methods, especially for local jurisdictions under 200,000 in population. Indispensable to managers, assistant managers, finance and budget officials, planning directors, public works administrators, and elected officials for choosing wisely among various approaches, using capital budgeting tools, and analyzing trade-offs during the process. Gathers together and clearly presents the accepted and successful policies, practices, and procedures from across the country and describes in detail every step¿from selecting projects, to planning how to pay for them, to structuring and selling debt. Provides an abundance of local government documents, working papers, charts, checklists, and examples from successful jurisdictions. Approach and recommendations consistent with the National Advisory Council on State and Local Government Budgeting, emphasizing goal setting and planning. Tips on prioritizing projects, winning political support for projects, and selling debt successfully. A book for every manager¿s bookshelf.







Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management


Book Description

Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.




Oregon Blue Book


Book Description




Public Investment and Budget Rules for State Vs Local Governments


Book Description

Across different layers of the U.S. government there are surprisingly large differences in institutional provisions that impose fiscal discipline, such as constitutionally mandated deficit or debt limits, or specific tax bases. In this paper we develop a framework that can be used to quantitatively assess their costs and benefits. The model features both endogenous and exogenous mobility across jurisdictions, so we can evaluate whether the different degree of mobility at the local vs. national level can justify different institutional restrictions. In preliminary results, we show that pure land taxes have very beneficial incentive effects, but can only raise limited amounts of revenues. In contrast, under exogenous mobility, income taxes lead unambiguously to insufficient incentives to invest in public capital, unless the fiscal constraints explicitly favor such investment. This conclusion seems to hold even with the introduction of endogenous mobility, since adverse congestion effects from inefficient migration offset the beneficial impact of (partial) capitalization of future taxes into land prices.




State and Local Public Finance


Book Description

State and Local Public Finance provides a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of state and local government public finance practices and issues, using the basic tools of economics. This fifth edition maintains its focus on key local services such as education, health care, and transportation and brings in new coverage of land use and housing, applications from behavioral economics, and more international comparisons. This textbook provides an examination and analysis of public finance practices and problems in a federal fiscal system, focusing on the fiscal behavior and policies of state and local governments. Modern economic theory is applied to examine the way key institutions are used to produce and finance services and to provide evaluation of alternative policies. This stalwart text will continue to be invaluable reading for those who study public finance, local government finance, urban economics, public policy, and public administration.