State and Local Finances Under Pressure

Book excerpt: State and Local Finances under Pressure explores the future of state and local government fiscal systems given the numerous pressures they face from economic, legal, technological, demographic and political forces. It explores how these multiple forces play out in terms of the changes state and local governments should and are likely to make. The contributors argue that state and local governments must make substantial changes and that failure to act is likely to result in adverse effects and increasing pressures for modifications that are more difficult to implement and more politically unpalatable. Without reform, state and local fiscal systems will grow increasingly out of sync with economic reality. The authors suggest that government responses are likely to be evolutionary, but that in 25 years the recorded changes will be substantial. The first chapter provides a historic perspective of state and local fiscal trends. Each of the subsequent chapters describes the nature of one of the pressures state and local governments face including: political and legal forces, globalization of business, demographic and technological changes, deregulation of utilities, and urban sprawl. Policymakers, economists, political scientists, fiscal policy analysts and public administrators will find this comprehensive book of interest.