Volatile States: Institutions, Policy, and the Performance of American State Economies

Contents

Contents List of Illustrations xi List of Tables xiii Introduction: Economic and Fiscal Performance in a Mean-Variance Perspective 1 1. Champions of the State Growth League 5 2. The End of State Income Convergence 25 3. Volatile States: Estimates of the Risk-Return Trade-Off 31 4. Demise of the State Sales Tax 50 5. Economic Consequences of State Tax Policy 64 6. Reliability of Revenues from Alternative Tax Instruments 73 7. State Budgets Outgrow State Incomes 82 8. Fiscal Uncertainty: The Enemy of EfAcient Budgeting 96 9. Political Ideology and Other Drivers of State Budget Priorities 119 10. Fresh Perspectives on Familiar Problems 138 Notes 143 References 155 Index 163 ...