[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mfg/wpaper/63.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring the Fiscal Health of U.S. Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Howard Chernick
  • Andrew Reschovsky

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract
This paper analyzes the fiscal health of 148 U.S. central cities using a specially constructed Fiscally Standardized Cities (FiSC) database that accounts for the revenues and spending of all the governments that provide public services in cities – municipal governments, school districts, counties, and special districts. These data permit comparisons of city finance between cities with widely different governance structures. The fiscal health of a city is defined as the relationship between its expenditure needs and its revenue-raising capacity. The expenditure needs calculations are obtained from regressions of six separate categories of spending. The analysis makes it possible to identify variables that are likely to affect the cost of providing different types of local public services. Tax capacity is measured by applying average tax rates to the major tax bases used by each FiSC in the database. User-charge capacity is based on residents’ ability to pay. Own-source fiscal capacity is supplemented by grants from the federal and state governments. The empirical analysis is based on a panel dataset for 2000 through 2014. The results indicate that that a substantial number of U.S. cities are in weak fiscal health because their revenue-raising capacity, including intergovernmental transfers, falls short of their expenditure needs. Fiscal disparities, measured as the variation in these fiscal gaps, were large in both 2000 and 2014 and increased over that period. On average, own-source revenue-raising capacity grew much faster than intergovernmental transfers. The largest single contributor to the increase in fiscal disparities was the uneven growth in own-source revenue-raising capacity across cities. Targeted increases in federal and state grants could help improve the fiscal health of U.S. central cities and reduce fiscal disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Howard Chernick & Andrew Reschovsky, 2023. "Measuring the Fiscal Health of U.S. Cities," IMFG Papers 63, University of Toronto, Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
    • Handle: RePEc:mfg:wpaper:63
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/126243/3/imfgpaper_no63_uscities__chernick_reschovsky.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chernick, Howard, 1998. "Fiscal Capacity in New York: The City Versus the Region," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(3), pages 531-540, September.
    2. Robin W. Boadway & Frank R. Flatters, 1982. "Efficiency and Equalization Payments in a Federal System of Government: A Synthesis and Extension of Recent Results," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 15(4), pages 613-633, November.
    3. William Duncombe & John Yinger, 1997. "Why is it so hard to help central city schools?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 85-113.
    4. Flatters, Frank & Henderson, Vernon & Mieszkowski, Peter, 1974. "Public goods, efficiency, and regional fiscal equalization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 99-112, May.
    5. Chernick, Howard, 1998. "Fiscal Capacity in New York: The City Versus the Region," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 51(n. 3), pages 531-40, September.
    6. A. Colin Cameron & Pravin K. Trivedi, 2010. "Microeconometrics Using Stata, Revised Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, number musr, March.
    7. Martinez-Vazquez Jorge & Timofeev Andrey, 2022. "The Long and Winding Road to Local Fiscal Equity in the United States: A Fifty-Year Retrospective," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 569-608, December.
    8. Jennifer Imazeki & Andrew Reschovsky, 2006. "Does No Child Left Behind Place a Fiscal Burden on States? Evidence from Texas," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 1(2), pages 217-246, April.
    9. Chernick, Howard & Reschovsky, Andrew & Newman, Sandra, 2021. "The effect of the housing crisis on the finances of central cities," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Gerard Turley & Darragh Flannery & Stephen McNena, 2015. "A Needs and Resources Assessment of Fiscal Equalisation in the Irish Local Government System," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 459-484.
    11. Duncombe, William & Yinger, John, 2000. "Financing higher student performance standards: the case of New York State," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 363-386, October.
    12. Richard M. Bird & Enid Slack, 2021. "Provincial-Local Equalization in Canada: Time for a Change?," IMFG Papers 57, University of Toronto, Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
    13. Bradbury, Katharine & Zhao, Bo, 2009. "Measuring Non–School Fiscal Disparities Among Municipalities," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(1), pages 25-56, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bo Zhao, 2023. "Estimating the cost function of connecticut public K–12 education: implications for inequity and inadequacy in school spending," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 439-470, July.
    2. Howard Chernick & Santino Piazza, 2016. "Fiscal gaps in amalgamated metropolitan areas: The case of Turin and Genoa," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(1), pages 137-171.
    3. Linda Toolsema & Maarten Allers, 2014. "Welfare Financing: Grant Allocation and Efficiency," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 147-166, June.
    4. Bo Zhao, 2020. "How to Design a State Education Aid Formula That Is Equitable, Adequate, and Politically Feasible: The Case of Connecticut," Working Papers 21-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    5. Tae Ho Eom & William Duncombe & Phuong Nguyen-Hoang & John Yinger, 2014. "The Unintended Consequences of Property Tax Relief: New York’s STAR Program," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 9(4), pages 446-480, October.
    6. Boadway, Robin & Song, Zhen & Tremblay, Jean-François, 2013. "Non-cooperative pollution control in an inter-jurisdictional setting," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 783-796.
    7. Mitsui, Kiyoshi & Sato, Motohiro, 2001. "Ex ante free mobility, ex post immobility, and time consistency in a federal system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 445-460, December.
    8. Sam Bucovetsky & Michael Smart, 2006. "The Efficiency Consequences of Local Revenue Equalization: Tax Competition and Tax Distortions," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 8(1), pages 119-144, January.
    9. Samira Bakhshi & Mohammad Shakeri & M. Rose Olfert & Mark D. Partridge & Simon Weseen, 2009. "Do Local Residents Value Federal Transfers?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(3), pages 235-268, May.
    10. Lee, Kangoh, 2002. "Factor Mobility and Income Redistribution in a Federation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 77-100, January.
    11. Nakajima, Tetsuya, 1995. "Equilibrium with an underpopulated region and an overpopulated region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 109-123, February.
    12. Michael Smart, 1996. "Taxation incentives and deadweight loss in a system of intergovernmental transfers," Working Papers msmart-96-03, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    13. Duncombe, William & Yinger, John, 2005. "How much more does a disadvantaged student cost?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 513-532, October.
    14. Alain Guengant, 1993. "Équité, efficacité et égalisation fiscale territoriale," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(4), pages 835-848.
    15. Toolsema-Veldman, Linda & Allers, M.A., 2012. "Welfare financing," Research Report 12004-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    16. Anke S. Kessler & Christoph Lülfesmann & Gordon M. Myers, 2002. "Redistribution, Fiscal Competition, and the Politics of Economic Integration," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 899-923.
    17. Volker Arnold, 2005. "Competitive Versus Cooperative Federalism: Is a Fiscal Equalization Scheme Necessary from an Allocative Point of View?/ Kompetitiver versus kooperativer Föderalismus: Ist ein horizontaler Finanzausgle," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 225(3), pages 3-26, June.
    18. Kangoh Lee, 2003. "Factor Ownership and Governmental Strategic Interaction," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 345-361, April.
    19. William Duncombe & John Yinger, 2001. "Does School Consolidation Cut Costs?," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 33, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    20. Robin Boadway & Katherine Cuff & Maurice Marchand, 2003. "Equalization and the Decentralization of Revenue–Raising in a Federation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 201-228, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    municipal finance; urban fiscal health; municipal revenue; municipal spending; fiscal capacity; expenditure need; transfers; intergovernmental relations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mfg:wpaper:63. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Enid Slack (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfutca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.