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From broad-based taxes on sales and income and employer payrolls, to fees and charges on school lunches, medical equipment, parking, etc., few topics take us into more aspects of public economics than the study of local revenue diversification. This article provides a thorough review of this topic, bringing to the discussion new data as well as some new evidence on the measurement of the degree of revenue diversity among the states. The article begins with a set of measures as to the growth of the level and degree of revenue diversification by type of government, and, from there, it addresses the questions of “why diversify,” where diversification works well, and where, in contrast, it has led to unintended negative outcomes. It presents several reasons that justify local revenue diversification, beginning with the fundamental proposition that, just as is true for nations and states, different localities have different revenue-raising capacities.

This paper reviews the existing literature on the property tax exemption for nonprofit organizations and identifies gaps to be addressed in future research. We start by examining justifications and existing eligibility criteria for the property tax exemption, followed by studies of the magnitude of the revenue loss from the exemption. We focus on theoretical and empirical studies of the economic effects of the exemption. We consider the effect of the tax advantage on nonprofit decisions about inputs, outputs and organizational form, decisions to rent or own, location decision, market share, and the effect of the exemption on neighboring property values. Finally, we evaluate research about the use of PILOTs and the implications of their possible expansion. We conclude that future studies need to examine further the magnitude of the revenues forgone, the advantages and disadvantages of PILOTs, and other solutions for distributing more evenly the burden of the exemption. Further studies are also needed to understand the economic effects of the property tax exemption, with opportunities for theoretical and empirical contributions.

This paper evaluates the budget transparency of international organizations. Building on IMF, OECD, IPSAS, and Open Budget Survey standards for sovereign‐state budget transparency, we create a 93‐item budget transparency measure reflective of international organization characteristics. International organizations are important global dispensers of accumulated knowledge. This includes the purveying of advice on member state budget transparency. Despite this role, we find only partial budget transparency among our surveyed international organizations. Nonetheless, the international organization financial management and accountability practices were more transparent than their budget process or budget disclosures.

This paper reviews the existing literature on the property tax exemption for nonprofit organizations and identifies gaps to be addressed in future research. We start by examining justifications and existing eligibility criteria for the property tax exemption, followed by studies of the magnitude of the revenue loss from the exemption. We focus on theoretical and empirical studies of the economic effects of the exemption. We consider the effect of the tax advantage on nonprofit decisions about inputs, outputs and organizational form, decisions to rent or own, location decision, market share, and the effect of the exemption on neighboring property values. Finally, we evaluate research about the use of PILOTs and the implications of their possible expansion. We conclude that future studies need to examine further the magnitude of the revenues forgone, the advantages and disadvantages of PILOTs, and other solutions for distributing more evenly the burden of the exemption. Further studies are also needed to understand the economic effects of the property tax exemption, with opportunities for theoretical and empirical contributions.