Search Results
Journal Article
COVID-19 Poses Risks for State and Local Public Pensions
If the coronavirus pandemic leads to a protracted recession, public pension funding could weaken further in the years to come. During the 2001 and 2007–09 recessions, investment returns failed to reach pension plans’ longer-term assumed returns, and shortfalls in state and local government budgets led some employers to temporarily reduce contributions. If pension funding falls during the current crisis, state and local governments may choose to adjust plan structures as they did after the Great Recession.
Working Paper
Economic Benefits and Social Costs of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana
We analyze the effects of legalizing recreational marijuana on state economic and social outcomes (2000–20) using difference-in-differences estimation robust to staggered timing and heterogeneity of treatment. We find moderate economic gains accompanied by some social costs. Post-legalization, average state income grew by 3 percent, house prices by 6 percent, and population by 2 percent. However, substance use disorders, chronic homelessness, and arrests increased by 17, 35, and 13 percent, respectively. Although some of our estimates are noisy, our findings suggest that the economic ...
Journal Article
Industrial diversity, growth, and volatility in the seven states of the Tenth District
State and local officials have long sought to diversify the mix of industries in their regions, hoping to reduce short-term volatility in their communities? economic growth rates and potentially boost overall long-term growth. ; While theory does suggest that industrial diversity can reduce economic volatility, views are mixed on whether and how industrial diversity affects long-term growth. ; Examining the varied landscape of industrial diversity across hundreds of counties in the Tenth District?s seven-state region, Felix finds that counties with greater diversity did see more economic ...
Journal Article
Federal Government Outlays Remain Historically Elevated, Spurred by Robust Transfers
Over the past six decades, the federal government has shifted a larger share of its outlays toward transfer payments to individuals and state and local governments. These longer-run trends were exacerbated during the pandemic, leading to higher deficits for the federal government and an increasingly high share of federal outlays supporting the economy through consumer spending.
Journal Article
Automobile manufacturing in Kansas City metro area
The economic situation in Kansas improved during the summer of 2012, but conditions in Missouri weakened. Employment growth was positive in Kansas during the second quarter, but the pace of growth slowed. In Missouri, employment growth was negative. The unemployment rate rose slightly in both states, but labor market indicators suggest that conditions could improve in the third quarter of 2012.
Journal Article
The impact of an aging U.S. population on state tax revenues
As the baby boom generation retires, the nation?s labor force participation rate is expected to decline. And since most people earn less and spend less during retirement, the aging of the U.S. population will likely reduce income and sales tax revenue per capita for state governments. Felix and Watkins draw from data on different age groups? earning and spending patterns to assess how projected changes in the age distribution across the American population are likely to affect earning and spending?and therefore state revenue from income taxes and sales taxes. They find that demographic change ...
Journal Article
Marijuana Industry Has Boosted Economic Activity in the Tenth Federal Reserve District
Since Colorado became the first state to open recreational marijuana stores in January 2014, the marijuana industry has expanded across the nation and to other states in the Tenth Federal Reserve District, including Missouri, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Within the Tenth District, this expansion has increased commercial real estate demand and tax revenues and created jobs, but has also presented challenges for the industry and local communities.
Journal Article
Deconstructing mountain state unemployment rates
This issue of the Rocky Mountain Economist discusses how the unemployment rate is calculated and explores recent trends in the Mountain States? unemployment rates.