ABSTRACT
Now in its 4th edition, 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. For this new edition, there is a focus on the most important services provided in the state-local sector: education, health and welfare, public safety, and transportation.
This textbook provides an examination and analysis of public finance practices and problems in a federal fiscal system, focusing on the fiscal behaviour and policies of state and local governments. The author presents detailed descriptions of significant institutions. Modern economic theory is applied to examine the way these institutions are used to produce and finance services, and to provide evaluation of alternative policies. Although the emphasis is on U.S. institutions and issues, much of the economic analysis can be applied to any federal system or to fiscal decentralization.
This fully revised new edition sees updates throughout to data, topics, and applications. The Headlines and Applications sections reflect the most current policy issues affecting state and local governments. These include the effects of the Great Recession on state and local governments, changes in the tax treatment of internet purchases, the Affordable Care Act and implications for Medicaid spending by state governments, demographic changes and the implications for state-local finances, the implications of changes in automobile technology for transportation financing, and the potential for increased gambling activity.
This text will continue to be invaluable reading for those who study public finance, local government finance, urban economics and public policy and public administration.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |48 pages
Introduction
chapter |28 pages
Why study state and local government finance?
part |79 pages
Public choice and fiscal federalism
chapter |22 pages
Demand for state and local government goods and services
chapter |18 pages
Public choice through mobility
chapter |17 pages
Organization of subnational government
part |148 pages
Provision of state and local goods and services
chapter |29 pages
Budgeting and fiscal outcomes
chapter |26 pages
Costs and production of state and local goods and services
chapter |31 pages
Intergovernmental grants
chapter |33 pages
Borrowing, debt, and capital investment
part |201 pages
Revenue for state and local governments
chapter |21 pages
Principles of tax analysis
chapter |35 pages
Sales and excise taxes
chapter |31 pages
Income taxes
chapter |24 pages
Business taxes
chapter |31 pages
Revenue from government monopoly and regulation
part |165 pages
Applications and policy analysis