Search Results
Journal Article
State tax revenue growth and volatility
Macroeconomic conditions and tax structures jointly determine the growth and volatility of state tax revenues. Since a variety of economic conditions exist among states, government policymakers should carefully anticipate and consider the possible impacts of proposed tax reform and revenue enhancements on the long-term growth and volatility of their unique tax revenue portfolios. In the short run, states generally cannot alter the volatility and growth rates of their economies. They can, however, change the composition of their tax portfolios to minimize the effects of the business cycle on ...
Journal Article
From payroll to playoffs
Journal Article
\\"What's it worth? Property taxes and assessment practices\\"
Residential property taxes are both a major source of local government financing and a significant cost of owning a home. Tax limitation measures and relatively moderate gains in house prices during most of the 1990s tended to keep property taxes from rising rapidly in those years. But from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, house prices once again rose sharply. Property taxes followed a similar path, bringing them to greater public attention once again. Now that house prices appear to have shifted to a level or downward trend in most parts of the country, there seems to be increasing concern ...
Journal Article
Come the devolution, will states be able to respond?
Since the founding of the Republic, Americans have engaged in endless debate about the division of fiscal and regulatory responsibilities among levels of government. The controversy has often involved the concomitant question of the optimal role of government as a whole. The issue has been not only which level of government should do what, but also what government at any level should do.
Journal Article
Revenue implications of New York City's tax system
A study of New York City's tax system finds that over the past three decades, the system has become less reliant on property and general sales taxes and more dependent on corporate and personal income taxes. This shift has made the city's tax revenues less stable than the revenues of the 1970s and more sensitive to cyclical swings.
Journal Article
Further base broadening: a possible source of tax revenues?
Working Paper
Predicting College Closures and Financial Distress
In this paper, we assemble the most comprehensive dataset to date on the characteristics of colleges and universities, including dates of operation, institutional setting, student body, staff, and finance data from 2002 to 2023. We provide an extensive description of what is known and unknown about closed colleges compared with institutions that did not close. Using this data, we first develop a series of predictive models of financial distress, utilizing factors like operational revenue/expense patterns, sources of revenue, metrics of liquidity and leverage, enrollment/staff patterns, and ...
Journal Article
Fiscal crises of the states: causes and consequences
The recession that began in late 2007 severely reduced state tax revenue and increased demand for many public services. In the near term, institutional and political factors limit the options states have for cutting spending and raising taxes. Aid to states in the federal economic program is winding down next year and the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Painful budgetary choices lie ahead for many states, though the drag on the national economy should be modest.
Journal Article
Seigniorage revenue and monetary policy: some preliminary evidence
Producing new money is inexpensive, making seigniorage--the revenues earned from creating new money--attractive. However, the social costs of faster money creation most likely are greater than the production costs. These marginal social costs may put limits on how much real seigniorage revenue the government can earn. In this article, Joseph Haslag looks across countries to assess the typical reliance on seigniorage revenue. In addition, Haslag determines whether countries with combinations of high rates of money growth and high reserve requirements tend to rely especially heavily on ...
Working Paper
Predicting College Closures and Financial Distress
In this paper, we assemble the most comprehensive dataset to date on the characteristics of colleges and universities, including dates of operation, institutional setting, student body, staff, and finance data from 2002 to 2023. We provide an extensive description of what is known and unknown about closed colleges compared with institutions that did not close. Using this data, we first develop a series of predictive models of financial distress, utilizing factors like operational revenue/expense patterns, sources of revenue, metrics of liquidity and leverage, enrollment/staff patterns, and ...