Robert J. Eger

Paying for Security

To investigate the direct and indirect effects of defense spending on economic growth, the authors develop a multilink (via investment, employment, and exports) defense-growth model and test it with U.S. data for the time period from 1951 to 2000. By doing so, they advance previous scholarship on the indirect effects of the defense-growth trade-off through both a theoretical and empirical investigation of multiple indirect channels. Using a nonlinear four-sector production function model that incorporates labor, capital, technology, and exports, they test the direct and indirect impacts of defense spending on growth. Defense spending has a negative, indirect effect on economic growth via investment and export while the direct impact on growth seems to be rather small. Nonmilitary government spending has economic effects on growth that are similar to those associated with military spending.

The Defense-Growth Relationship: An Economic Investigation into Post-Soviet States

An important question stemming from the collapse of the Soviet Union is how defense spending has influenced the economic performance of the 15 member states since their establishment as market economies. This study furthers the understanding of the relationship between defense spending and economic growth using data from the states of the former Soviet Union from 1992 to 2007. A nonlinear production function was used for direct effects, and models of investment and employment were employed for indirect effects. Contrary to expectations, the findings show that continued reliance on the defense sector in post-Soviet states has helped overall economic growth. Similarly, the growth effect of defense spending has remained nearly constant since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Is Local Discretionary Sales Tax Adopted to Counteract Fiscal Stress

Economic development has traditionally relied on operational resources concentrated in the governments general fund balance for postinfrastructure operations. In this article, the authors explore the phenomenon of infrastructure surtax adoption for development and operation in an empirical analysis of Florida counties. The authors focus their analysis on the factors that influence the adoption grounding the analysis in the theoretical framework of the policy innovation and adoption literature. Their results support earlier findings; however, the most striking point is that fiscal stress and direct tax burden do not statistically influence the infrastructure surtax innovation.

Procedural complexity of tax administration: the road fund case

This paper examines the relationship between the procedural tax administration system and the characteristics of the decision-maker in the decision to comply with the tax code. Specifically, we examine the motor fuel tax system. The motor fuel tax system requires an organization to collect and remit taxes at both the federal and state levels. Using a path model, we find that the procedural complexity of the tax system contributes to an increase in tax non-compliance.

Brownfields, Crime, and Tax Increment Financing

When the determinants of property value include a central city—a location in which private businesses are often reluctant to invest—property values are no longer a simple function of land and demand features but are also influenced by health and welfare issues such as neighborhood crime and environmental contamination. To maintain economic vitality, central cities require not only the presence of market forces and the provision of public amenities that commonly increase the value of property but also the implementation and effectiveness of public policies directed at stimulating property valuation to combat the negative influences of these unique features of the urban environment. This article examines tax increment financing in relation to the health and welfare issues of crime and brownfields. The authors empirically show that the public policy of tax increment financing can effectively increase districtwide property valuation to counteract the negating effects of crime and brownfields.

Managing Local Intergovernmental Revenues: The Imperative of Diversification

Abstract Municipal governments have employed a variety of strategies to address their ongoing revenue crises throughout the past several decades. One such strategy that has been employed with great consistency is the use of intergovernmental revenues (IGR). Given this trend, coupled with the fact that we know little about the dynamics of IGR, this paper presents one of the first multi‐year examinations of its use at the local level. Using data from 76 villages and cities in Cook County, IL (greater Chicago) for 1996–2000, we examine IGR use from the perspective of revenue diversification. The analysis indicates that during this period, local governments in Cook County (1) diversified their own‐source revenues and decreased dependence on the property tax; (2) maintained a consistent dependence on IGR; and (3) diversified and significantly altered their IGR structures. We also examine the demographic and organizational correlates of IGR diversification, and find it to be unrelated to characteristics such as population, property tax base, professional administration, and organizational capacity. As a result, we conclude that IGR diversification is a strategy that ought to be considered by all municipalities regardless of size or structure.

IMPLEMENTING HIGHWAY PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE: COMPARING CHALLENGES, PROCESSES, AND SOLUTIONS IN THREE STATES

One of the central challenges facing todays state transportation policymakers is how to incorporate preventive maintenance concepts and strategies into existing asset-management systems. Seven unique challenges to implementing preventive maintenance are identified in the literature and elsewhere, and a discussion covers the ways states have addressed those challenges through various implementation strategies. Then, case studies provide examples of how that incorporation has occurred in the departments of transportation in Michigan, Kansas, and Nebraska. The three case studies are presented in an effort to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of these three unique approaches, herein labeled the top-down approach, for Michigan; the bottom-up approach, for Kansas; and the inclusive approach, for Nebraska. In particular, an examination is presented of how preventive maintenance concepts were integrated into the planning, budgeting, and technical needs-assessment for state highways.

FINANCING INFRASTRUCTURE: FIXED PRICE VS. PRICE INDEX CONTRACTS

This paper looks at a common type of price adjustment, price indexing, which provides contractors with compensation for increases in price volatile commodities. We address the effect of Firm Fixed Price (FFP) versus indexed price systems for a price volatile commodity. The impact of these two types of bid systems is analyzed through a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results indicate that an indexed price system does not provide a reduction in costs compared to a Firm Fixed Price system. This study is important to state financial managers as they address the efficient use of resources invested in state infrastructure.

Outsourcing Decision Making in Public Organizations: Proposed Methodology and Initial Analytic Results from a Department of Transportation

In the past several decades, departments of transportation (DOTs) have explored outsourcing as an alternative to human resource development or as an enhancement to productivity. Many studies have looked at outsourcing within DOTs: some indicate success and some indicate failure. Little agreement is found in either process or scope within the governmental outsourcing literature. A potential solution to the decision to outsource in public agencies is explored through a comprehensive, process-based evaluation linking DOT goals and managerial insight to competencies, a hierarchical evaluation to indicate a potential priority list based on management insight, a knowledge audit to address knowledge transfer and loss, a traditional cost collection and market analysis, and an evaluation of human resource expertise and utilization. The process leads to a outsourcing decision support tool that evaluates the multidimensional implications of outsourcing, allowing potential functions to be hierarchically listed for outsourcing and informing decision makers of functions that need internal resource allocation.

The Policy of Enforcement Red Light Cameras and Racial Profiling

We explore the question of whether some of the often conflicting evidence of racial profiling can be cleared up using red light camera observations to measure racial disparities in traffic violations. Using data from cameras at intersections matched to census data, we find that although citations from the red light cameras are issued to a disproportionate number of minorities based on the racial composition of the surrounding location, the racial composition of the violator is consistent with the racial composition of the block group in which they reside. Our study indicates that red light cameras may have a present and future role in assisting public policy makers on issues of racial profiling thresholds.The use of red light cameras has focused on traffic safety issues with well established results. In this paper we explore the potential public policy benefits of red light cameras as tools to assess information relating to racial profiling. Specifically, we explore the question of whether or not some of the often conflicting rhetoric about racial profiling and gaps in the literature concerning the prevalence of racial profiling can be cleared up using red light camera observations to measure racial disparities in traffic violations. Using data from cameras at intersections matched to census data, we find that although citations from the red light cameras are issued to a disproportionate number of minorities based on the racial composition of the population surrounding the location of the infraction, the racial composition of the violators is consistent with the racial composition of the block group in which they reside. This confirms those studies of racial profiling that show the fallacy of measuring racial disparities of persons stopped, cited, or arrested for traffic violations based on location of the violation. Instead, we propose that racial profiling in traffic stops is not occurring if the distribution of violators cited by a red light camera is consistent with the distribution of violators cited by law enforcement officers. Using the red light camera violation information and census data, this study finds no evidence of differential behavior in red-light running based on race and evidence of a decrease in red-light running behavior for low-income groups. Our study indicates that red light cameras may have a present and future role in assisting public policy makers on issues of racial profiling thresholds.