Divided Government and Deficits in the States

政府分裂和各州赤字

• 批准号: 9223638
• 负责人: James Alt
• 金额: $ 10.2万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1993
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1993-04-01 至 1996-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9223638&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Divided; Government; Deficits; States

After a long period of relative prosperity, American state governments have recently been experiencing significant fiscal difficulties. Ten states began their 1992 fiscal year without a budget, including New York, which set a record by going over three months past its April 1 deadline before adopting a budget, and Maine and Connecticut, which temporarily shut down all but essential public services. Some observers blame this pattern on excessive spending by state governments in the 1980s, while others argue that the "new federalism" is to blame, by increasing state responsibilities while decreasing federal revenue contributions. The investigators believe there is also a political cause: of the ten states that lacked a budget at the beginning of their 1992 fiscal year, nine currently had divided government, meaning that the same party did not control the executive and both houses of the legislature. The investigators of this project contend there is also a constitutional cause: states whose laws allow easy carryover of deficits accumulate debt faster than others. The investigators will use political and economic models to explain how fiscal imbalance in the states results from such political and legal causes. They will test whether America's parties really differ systematically in fiscal policy at the state level, with Democrats taxing and spending more. If so, they will also test whether Democratic states with no-carryover constitutional provisions act like Republican states, while Democratic states without such provisions amass large cumulative deficits. Most of all, the researchers seek to explain how divided government exacerbates budget deficits in recessions. This research promises to enhance our understanding of the impact of divided government on political and economic factors.

在经历了一段长时间的相对繁荣之后，美国各州政府最近经历了严重的财政困难。有10个州在1992财年开始时没有预算，其中包括纽约州和缅因州和康涅狄格州，纽约州在通过预算之前超过了4月1日的最后期限三个月，创下了纪录，缅因州和康涅狄格州暂时关闭了除基本公共服务以外的所有公共服务。一些观察人士将这种模式归咎于20世纪80年代州政府的过度支出，而另一些人则认为，这要归咎于“新联邦主义”，它增加了州政府的责任，同时减少了联邦收入的贡献。调查人员认为，还有一个政治原因：在1992财年开始时缺乏预算的10个州中，目前有9个州的政府存在分歧，这意味着同一个政党并不控制行政和立法两院。该项目的调查人员认为，还有一个宪法原因：法律允许轻松结转赤字的州积累债务的速度比其他州更快。调查人员将使用政治和经济模型来解释各州的财政失衡是如何由这些政治和法律原因造成的。他们将测试美国各政党是否真的在州一级的财政政策上存在系统性差异，民主党人征税和支出更多。如果是这样的话，他们还将测试具有无遗留宪法条款的民主党州是否表现得像共和党州，而没有此类条款的民主党州积累了巨额累积赤字。最重要的是，研究人员试图解释分裂的政府如何在衰退中加剧预算赤字。这项研究有望加深我们对分裂政府对政治和经济因素的影响的理解。