{"title":"How Does a Reduction in Mandated Medicaid Spending Affect Local Fiscal Behaviors? Evidence from New York State","authors":"Yusun Kim","doi":"10.1177/10911421211036008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211036008","url":null,"abstract":"In 2005, New York (NY) state capped the growth of county-level Medicaid spending, which abruptly decreased counties’ Medicaid outlay in both relative and absolute terms. This study exploits this discontinuity in county Medicaid outlay to estimate the impact of the relief mandate policy on county budgets and property tax levies. It bridges a gap in the public finance literature by addressing local government responses to a sudden decrease in the outlay of a large mandatory spending category. We find a compositional change but no income effect on non-Medicaid spending. However, the policy reduced the effective property tax rate significantly by 6.6 to 8.1 percent on average among affected NY counties after the enactment of the policy relative to control counties. This study advances our understanding of local fiscal responses to an intergovernmental fiscal policy that changes how state and local governments share the costs of a large public social insurance program.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"495 - 547"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47874931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implications of a Mortgage Interest Credit for the United States","authors":"Austin J. Drukker","doi":"10.1177/10911421211028821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211028821","url":null,"abstract":"The US mortgage interest deduction (MID) allows homeowners to deduct the interest paid on their mortgages from their federal tax returns, provided that they itemize deductions. Since the benefit depends on a taxpayer’s marginal tax rate, which increases with income, the MID is an “upside-down subsidy” that becomes more valuable for higher-income homeowners. I analyze the implications of converting the US MID to a mortgage interest credit (MIC) and evaluate the effects on federal revenue and the distribution of income. I argue that a MIC could be better targeted at low- and middle-income taxpayers on the margin of homeownership while also being more progressive and less expensive than the current MID.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"573 - 588"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/10911421211028821","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49296930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reply to Brewer, Conway, and Rork (2021)","authors":"W. Reed","doi":"10.1177/10911421211016448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211016448","url":null,"abstract":"Conway, Brewer, and Rork (CBR) have done a thorough reproduction and replication of Reed. Their analysis extending the time period that I used, while applying the same empirical procedures, convincingly demonstrates that the estimated effect of taxes on state-level economic growth has declined in recent years. In this reply, I reflect on the capacity of the regression procedures used by CBR, Reed, and others to identify causal effects of taxes on economic growth at the state level. I identify challenges to causal inference that make it difficult to translate these findings to advise for policy makers.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"488 - 491"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/10911421211016448","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48649206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Influence of Neighboring Jurisdictions Matters: Examining the Impact of Natural Disasters on Local Government Fiscal Accounts","authors":"Yu Shi, Jingran Sun","doi":"10.1177/10911421211025740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211025740","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of natural disasters on emergency and disaster relief service (EDRS) expenditure in the governmental funds for sixty-six counties in the state of Florida between 2009 and 2013. Specifically, it will explore whether the fiscal responses of local governments in these fiscal accounts are spatially dependent by using the spatial Durbin model. It finds that EDRS expenditures in the general fund and in the special revenue fund of one county are influenced by the levels of damage in neighboring counties. This study also finds a spillover effect of intergovernmental revenues from state and federal governments on these EDRS expenditures in fiscal accounts. These results suggest that the provision of public goods (such as disaster relief activities) may generate spatial spillover at the local level in the context of US federalism. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of accounting for spatial factors in the study with respect to local jurisdictions’ fiscal reactions to natural disasters.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"435 - 463"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/10911421211025740","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48261932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Finance of Unemployment Compensation and Its Consequences","authors":"Audrey Guo, Andrew C. Johnston","doi":"10.1177/10911421211021389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211021389","url":null,"abstract":"Economists have contributed important theoretical and empirical findings to the study of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, but a deliberate study of the effect of UI taxation’s unique structure remains undone. We summarize available evidence on UI taxation, describe the history and institutions of experience rating, and outline important lines of inquiry for future work. As unemployment has risen, so has the need for a body of policy-relevant knowledge about the function and financing of UI systems.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"392 - 434"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/10911421211021389","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47945069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Replication of “The Robust Relationship between Taxes and US State Income Growth” (National Tax Journal 2008)","authors":"Ben Brewer, K. Conway, Jonathan C. Rork","doi":"10.1177/10911421211016406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211016406","url":null,"abstract":"Using state-level data from 1970 to 1999 and a five-year interval approach, Reed provides robust evidence that taxes have a negative effect on state economic growth. Subsequent work by Gale, Krupkin, and Rueben uses more recent data, ending with the five-year period around the Great Recession, and provides evidence that the relationship is not stable. We take a systematic approach to replicating and then updating Reed to include the most recent data possible to see whether the relationship is sensitive to the time period considered. Our analyses corroborate Reed’s findings of a consistently negative and often statistically significant effect of taxes on state economic growth but also suggest that the long-run effects no longer exist in more current years.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"464 - 487"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/10911421211016406","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48921109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hand-to-mouth Consumption and Calorie Consciousness: Consequences for Junk-food Taxation","authors":"Nathalie Mathieu-Bolh","doi":"10.1177/10911421211000465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421211000465","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Junk-food taxes have mixed effects on obesity and junk-food consumption. We build a theoretical model to explain empirical results and better understand how to address the obesity crisis. In our framework, hand-to-mouth consumers make an intertemporal choice between junk-food consumption and weight loss. Their choice depends on calorie consciousness, which is influenced by perceived after-tax relative prices and educational attainment. Thus, a junk-food tax modifies consumers’ intertemporal choice both through their budget constraint and calorie consciousness. As a result, the effect of the tax on body weight reflects competing income, intertemporal substitution, and calorie-consciousness effects. The model explains empirical observations such as the recent rise in obesity and differences in weight outcomes for different income levels. The model explains circumstances under which junk-food taxes can be effective or ineffective to reduce body weight as well as differences in elasticities of high-calorie food consumption for high- and low-income earners.</p>","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138525629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Would a Permanently Refundable Child and Dependent Care Credit Affect Eligibility, Benefits, and Incentives?","authors":"Gabrielle Pepin","doi":"10.1177/10911421221092053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421221092053","url":null,"abstract":"The federal Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) subsidizes child care costs for working families. Before 2021, the CDCC was nonrefundable, so only families with positive tax liability after other deductions benefited. I estimate how CDCC eligibility, benefits, and marginal tax rates would change if the credit were made permanently refundable. Under refundability, some 5 percent of single parents gain eligibility and receive on average over $1,000 annually. Eligibility increases are largest among Black and Hispanic households. Increases in marginal tax rates among moderate-income taxpayers are small.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"50 1","pages":"33 - 61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65371370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Comparison of Different Data-driven Procedures to Determine the Bunching Window","authors":"V. Dekker, Karsten Schweikert","doi":"10.1177/1091142121993055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1091142121993055","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we compare three data-driven procedures to determine the bunching window in a Monte Carlo simulation of taxable income. Following the standard approach in the empirical bunching literature, we fit a flexible polynomial model to a simulated income distribution, excluding data in a range around a prespecified kink. First, we propose to implement methods for the estimation of structural breaks to determine a bunching regime around the kink. A second procedure is based on Cook’s distances aiming to identify outlier observations. Finally, we apply the iterative counterfactual procedure proposed by Bosch, Dekker, and Strohmaier which evaluates polynomial counterfactual models for all possible bunching windows. While our simulation results show that all three procedures are fairly accurate, the iterative counterfactual procedure is the preferred method to detect the bunching window when no prior information about the true size of the bunching window is available.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"262 - 293"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1091142121993055","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46791621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Government Size, Trade Openness, and Intersectoral Income Fluctuation: An International Panel Analysis","authors":"Daehaeng Kim, Chul-In Lee","doi":"10.1177/1091142121994683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1091142121994683","url":null,"abstract":"Using the between-sector variation in income as a new measure of economic uncertainty, this article proposes simple models and supportive empirical evidence for the simultaneous relationship between economic uncertainty and government size in the open economy setting. Main empirical findings are that (i) a larger government reduces economic uncertainty, and, at the same time, (ii) an economy facing higher uncertainty has a larger government. However, (iii) the government tends to resort to redistributive policies to reduce the uncertainty, while (iv) government direct spending is also an effective option for the purpose. The study also finds that (v) the new cross-sectional measure of economic uncertainty tends to rise when a country becomes more open to international trade. Our results suggest that there is some trade-off between economic stability and a small government.","PeriodicalId":46919,"journal":{"name":"PUBLIC FINANCE REVIEW","volume":"49 1","pages":"294 - 332"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1091142121994683","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47506094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}