Hou publishes edited volume on local government budget stabilization

Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs, has published an edited volume, Local Government Budget Stabilization: Explorations and Evidence, a sequel to Hou’s (2013) authored book State Government Budget Stabilization: Policy, Tools, and Impacts.  The new volume shifts its focus from the subnational level to the local level.

This edited volume is the first comprehensive, full-scale treatment of the politics, law, and economics with regard to the policies and policy instruments for budget stabilization at the local level.  In Local Government, Hou examines budget stabilization in the United States from adoption of public budgeting through the Great Recession.  He also provides details on the methods and results of empirical tests of the effects of budget stabilization instruments on government operations and key/basic services provisions, among others.

The project, which started in 2012, was conducted by a team of scholars from seven research universities who specialize in various areas of public finance and financial management, including revenue volatility, fiscal condition, pension management, debt issuance and retirement, as well as tax and expenditure limitations. Three faculty members of the Maxwell School are among the chapter contributors (Bob Bifulco, Sharon Kioko, and Shena Ashley), each drafting a chapter in their respective research area. 02/10/15