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Working Paper
What do cross-sectional growth regressions tell us about convergence?
This paper tests the dynamic implications of beta-convergence with time-series data from 48 contiguous U.S. states. The motivation for this paper rests with the interpretation of results from cross-sectional growth regressions. These results show that poor regions experience faster per-capita income growth than rich regions. This is interpreted as evidence of convergence. However, convergence is a dynamic adjustment process with testable implications in time-series data, while the literature employs cross-sectional data to estimate this dynamic concept. A set of strong assumptions must be ...
Journal Article
How will New Hampshire solve its school funding problem? part 2 of 3
Ever since the New Hampshire Supreme Court decided in Claremont II that the local property tax used to fund K-12 public education was unconstitutional, policymakers have struggled to find a permanent solution to the school finance problem. In 1999, the legislature enacted an interim funding plan centered around a temporary statewide property tax. The price tag of providing New Hampshire students with an "adequate" education was set at $825 million in spending, but the funding plan raised revenues of only about $725 million. Thus, lawmakers were aware that they would have to revisit the ...
Journal Article
Are state government debt levels too high?
Journal Article
How will future aid cuts affect New England's public sector?
Journal Article
Should Internet sales transactions be taxed?
Over the past three years, electronic commerce has grown explosively at rates of 200 to 300 percent per year. After spending just $2.4 billion over the Internet in 1997, consumers transacted about $25 billion in Internet sales in 1999, according to an estimate by Ernst & Young. The firm predicts that the value of on-line transactions will double to $50 billion in the current year. By 2004, says Forrester Research, Internet sales to consumers will reach $184 billion, an annualized growth rate of 49 percent over the five-year period from 2000 to 2004.
Working Paper
Are taste and technology parameters stable? a test of \"deep\" parameter stability in real business cycle models of the U.S. economy
Lucas (1976) criticized Keynesian models because of parametric instability. For many economists, the "Lucas critique" provided a reason to replace the Keynesian approach with equilibrium models of the business cycle. One example of the equilibrium approach is the Real Business Cycle (RBC) model. However, RBC models have not been subjected to the same scrutiny of tests of parameter instability. We present a prototypical RBC model and subject it to structural change tests. Our results document evidence of extensive parameter instability. Thus, the "Lucas critique" is applicable and we ...
Journal Article
Will the current boom encourage states to spend too much?
Journal Article
How will New Hampshire solve its school funding problem? part 1 of 3
In December 1997, the New Hampshire Supreme Court decided that the local property tax used to fund the states K-12 public education was set at $6.60 per $1,000 of a propertys value. On the surface, this measure would appear to meet the stipulation of equal and proportionate, since a uniform tax rate is applied equally to all property owners across the state. However, on January 17, 2001, Rockingham Superior Court Judge Richard E. Galway ruled in Sirrell, et al. v. State of New Hampshire, et al. that the new statewide property tax was also unconstitutional. A divided state Supreme Court ...