State and Local Public Finance

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- PART I Introduction -- 1. Why study state and local government finance? -- Headlines -- Structure of subnational government -- Fiscal characteristics of the subnational public sector -- Diversity of subnational governments -- International comparison: government spending in selected industrialized nations -- Fiscal role of subnational governments -- Summary -- Discussion questions -- Notes -- Selected readings -- 2. Microeconomic analysis: market efficiency and market failure -- Headlines -- The efficiency of the market -- When markets are not efficient -- Distributional concerns -- Efficient provision of public goods -- Application to state and local governments -- Application 2.1: Public and private provision of public safety -- Summary -- Discussion questions -- Notes -- Selected readings -- PART II Public choice and fiscal federalism -- 3. Demand for state and local government goods and services -- Headlines -- Understanding and measuring demand -- Evidence about demand for state-local services -- Application 3.1: Business demand for government service -- Summary -- Appendix: Using elasticity to characterize demand -- Discussion questions -- Notes -- Selected readings -- 4. Public choice without mobility: voting -- Headlines -- Fiscal choices -- Majority voting -- Alternative voting methods -- Application 4.1: Voting for public school budgets -- Summary -- Appendix: Indifference curve approach to voting models -- Discussion questions -- Notes -- Selected readings -- 5. Public choice through mobility -- Headlines -- The Tiebout hypothesis -- Evaluation of the Tiebout model -- Extensions of the Tiebout model -- Public choice: Evidence -- Summary -- Discussion questions -- Notes -- Selected readings