Lecture Notes in State and Local Public Finance (Parts I and II)

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 Tax Public Production Functions Program Evaluation Public Cost Functions Cost Indexes and Pupil Weights School District Consolidation Demand for Public Services: The Median Voter and Other Approaches State Aid Bidding and Sorting Property Tax Capitalization Hedonics School Quality Capitalization Sales Taxes Property Tax Incidence Tax Competition Tax Rates and Economic Development Tax Breaks and Economic Development Infrastructure Bond Markets Part II: State and Local Public Finance for Master's Degree Students: Introduction and Overview The Demand for Local Public Services Local Voting Public Sector Costs Concepts Public Sector Costs: Policy Local Public Revenue Property Tax Capitalization Property Tax Incidence Income and Sales Taxes Revenue from Government Monopoly User Fees Infrastructure Municipal Bonds Markets Issuing Municipal Bonds Economic Development: Concepts Economic Development Policy Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations State Aid to Education Educational Accountability Readership: PhD students undertaking Public Administration as well as master's students studying State and Local Public Finance and Public Administration.