John E. Petersen

Robert D. Ebel

State and local government fiscal systems have increasingly become vulnerable to economic changes. Over the past three decades, state and local deficits during economic recession have been larger and deeper each time. The impact of the Great Recession and its aftermath of feeble growth and lingering high unemployment has been dramatic both in scope and intensity. Before the crisis, long-term structural deficits were persistent for both individual governments and the entire sector as spending plans and patterns outpaced governments' revenue-generating capacity. The revenue systems of these governments eroded while the workloads and scope on the expenditure side of the state and local system budget continued to grow. This handbook evaluates the persistent problems in the fiscal systems of state and local governments and what can be done to solve them. It contains 35 chapters authored by 60 practitioners and academics who are renowned scholars in state and local finance. Each chapter provides a description of the discipline area, examines major developments in policy, practices and research, and opines on future prospects. The chapters are divided into four sections. Section I is a systematic discussion of the institutional, economic, and political framework that provides a background for understanding the structure and financial performance of the state and local sector. The chapters in Section II provide an overview of the various components of state and local revenue systems and how they reacted to the Great Recession. They analyze the diverse forms of taxes and charges in detail, prescribe remedies and alternatives, and examine the implications for future revenue performance. Chapters in Section III turn to spending, borrowing and financial management in the state and local sector. The focus is on the big six service delivery sectors: education, health care, human services, transportation, pensions, and housing. Section IV is a set of chapters that look ahead and speculate about how the state and local government sector's money-raising, spending, and service delivery structures will adjust to the new circumstances.

The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government Finance

Catherine Lavigne Spain

Martharose F. Laffey

A Compendium of Current Research

State and Local Government Finance and Financial Management

State and Local Perspectives

Essays in Public Finance and Financial Management

Robert H. Gardner

W. Michael. Kemp

Victor S. Kennedy

Scaling Relations in Experimental Ecology

Mila Freire

This publication has been prepared by staff members of the World Bank and selected guest contributors. It sets out a framework to study subnational governments as borrowers and the range of credit markets in which they may operate. It also contains a number of case studies which detail the recent experience of 18 countries in developing markets for subnational borrowers., and offer insights into lessons to be drawn on fostering responsible credit market access within a framework of fiscal and financial discipline. Other issues discussed include: the issuing of municipal debt and its characteristics, and the role of macroeconomic conditions and market development in the success or failure of those borrowings.

From Theory to Practice

Subnational Capital Markets in Developing Countries

John E. Petersen

Books

Your next favorite book is out there