Lecture Notes in State and Local Public Finance

This book is based on lectures conducted for two classes at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University: A Public Finance Seminar for PhD students in public administration and State and Local Public Finance for master's students in public administration.

Topics covered include the role of voters in a federal system, the sorting of different households into different communities, the determinants of public service costs, the property tax and other sources of local (and state) revenue, fiscal aspects of economic development, and intergovernmental aid (especially for education).

The notes for the Ph.D. class also cover several more advanced topics, such as the estimation of education production and cost functions, the capitalization of school quality into house values, and tax competition among jurisdictions. The focus in these notes is on the highly decentralized federal system in the United States, but many of the principles and much of the behavioral analysis in the class apply to other countries as well.

These notes draw on Professor Yinger's extensive teaching experience and publication record in state and local public finance. They should prove useful to many teachers, scholars, and students who find topics in state and local public finance that they wish to pursue.
Contents: Part I: Public Finance Seminar for PhD Students:The Property TaxPublic Production FunctionsProgram EvaluationPublic Cost FunctionsCost Indexes and Pupil WeightsSchool District ConsolidationDemand for Public Services: The Median Voter and Other ApproachesState AidBidding and SortingProperty Tax CapitalizationHedonicsSchool Quality CapitalizationSales TaxesProperty Tax IncidenceTax CompetitionTax Rates and Economic DevelopmentTax Breaks and Economic DevelopmentInfrastructureBond MarketsPart II: State and Local Public Finance for Master's Degree Students:Introduction and OverviewThe Demand for Local Public ServicesLocal VotingPublic Sector Costs ConceptsPublic Sector Costs: PolicyLocal Public RevenueProperty Tax CapitalizationProperty Tax IncidenceIncome and Sales TaxesRevenue from Government MonopolyUser FeesInfrastructureMunicipal Bonds MarketsIssuing Municipal BondsEconomic Development: ConceptsEconomic Development PolicyIntergovernmental Fiscal RelationsState Aid to EducationEducational Accountability
Readership: PhD students undertaking Public Administration as well as master's students studying State and Local Public Finance and Public Administration.Public Finance;State and Local Government;Education;Intergovernmental Aid;Federalism0Key Features:Provides extensive information about the institutions and policy issues that arise in the state and local public sectorShows the importance of considering the behavioral responses of actors in the state and local sector to the incentives they faceIntroduces the scholarly research on key state and local public finance topics