Paths of Fiscal Centralization in the American States

Contrasting New Public Management (NPM) Versus Post-NPM Through Financial Performance

“…The traditional means of measuring decentralization on macroeconomic theory focused on fiscal decentralization. For example, Giertz (1981) and Stonecash (1985) used fiscal indicators and provided evidence of the variation of decentralization levels across the 50 states making up the United States. Nearly all these studies draw on Government Finance Statistics issued by the International Monetary Fund as the basis for measuring “decentralization” (Ebel & Yilmaz, 2002).…”

State Responses to Declining Federal Support: Behavior in the Post‐1978 Era

“…States may use greater resources in two ways. They may assume greater responsibility for direct delivery of activities or they may provide more support for local governments 1985). They may also choose some combination of these two choices.…”

“…Some states were pursuing a gradual and persistent trend toward centralizatbn ever since the 1930s (if not before). The greatest centraiizatbn has taken place among those whbh were initially the least centralized 1985;. Those states least centralized in 1957, for example, were those in the Northeast (Stonecash, 1988).…”

Life in the Fast Lane: Transportation Finance and the Local Option Sales Tax

“…While Proposition 13 did not directly affect the way in which transportation was funded in California, it did infl uence the policy changes enacted during the 1980s through its two-thirds vote mandate and the public anti-tax sentiment it generated. Third, while the literature would indicate that states tend to be centralizing in today's environment (Adkisson and Peach 2000;Stonecash 1985), this case study provides an example of how the state government decentralized power and authority to the local level by allowing local governments to raise revenue for local transportation needs.…”

“…The radical policy change undertaken by the legislature, from the theoretical viewpoint of institutions, is interesting on two fronts. First, much of the literature on state and local politics indicates that states are in fact centralizing power and authority at the state level, not granting authority to local governments in areas traditionally administered by state agencies and the legislature (e.g., see Adkisson and Peach 2000;Stonecash 1985). Second, most institutions do not voluntarily give up power and authority to other levels of government.…”