Collaborative Research in The Growth and Decline of State Public Assets: A Study in Instrutional Political Economuy

20世纪70年代的纽约市和克利夫兰财政危机，公共基础设施的衰败，公共雇员养老金债务的增加，以及州和地方政府现金预算短缺的增加表明，并非所有州和地方政府都站在坚实的财政基础上。最近和持续的联邦国内开支削减以及对州和地方政府的援助意味着对州和地方部门增加了财政和政治压力。需求和要求始终如一，曾经向华盛顿寻求公共资金和有利监管的利益集团现在把重点放在了州和地方部门。这些因素对州和地方政府的财政可行性具有重大的长期影响。随着当前资源的减少和支出压力的增加，这些政府的官员可能会转向一个可以获得美元的地方——资产账户。政客和官僚们可以通过无法维持国家的基础设施、养老金资金不足，或者仅仅通过借款来支付当前的服务，来收集额外的资源来满足服务需求。然而，问题是，虽然提供了目前的服务，但公共资产正在枯竭。在这一过程中，输家往往是未来的纳税人，他们继承的公共资产基础比他们应该继承的要低。在这项调查中，研究人员正在评估州政府的资产和负债基础，以及它在过去15年中是如何变化的。这个项目的数据周期是1971年到1984年的48个大陆州。这项研究的数据包括对政府持有的公共财富的新估计，定义为政府资产价值与负债价值之间的差额。政府资产的存量包括基础设施（道路、建筑物和计算机）和金融资产（现金、股票和债券）。负债包括短期和长期债务以及无资金支持的公共养老基金。在一个财政年度内，这种公共财富水平的变化构成了政府储蓄或储蓄不足，这取决于财富是增加还是减少。研究人员评估了州政府官员的预算决策，以扩大当前的服务和转移，降低当前的税收水平，最终扩大或耗尽国家公共资产。这一评估隐含着对公共部门和私营部门表现出的时间偏好为何可能不同的分析。

The New York City and Cleveland fiscal crises of the 1970's, the decay of public infra-structures, growing public employee pension debt, and the increased incidence of shortfalls in the cash budgets of state and local governments suggest that not all state and local governments stand on a firm fiscal base. Recent and continued cutbacks in federal domestic spending and in aid to state and local governments means added financial and political pressure on the state and local sectors. Needs and demands remain constant and interest groups who once went to Washington for public dollars and favorable regulation now focus on the state and local sectors. These factors have significant long-run effects on the fiscal viability of state and local governments. With declining current resources and rising spending pressures, officials in these governments may turn to the one place where dollars are available - - the asset accounts. By failing to maintain the state's infra-structure, by underfunding pensions, or by simply borrowing to pay for current services, politicians and bureaucrats can gather additional resources to meet service demands. The problem obtains, however, that while current services are provided, public assets are depleted. The persons who tend to lose in this process are future taxpayers who inherit a lower public asset base than they should. In this investigation, the researchers are assessing the asset and liability base of state governments and how it has changed in the past fifteen years. The data period for this project is 1971 to 1984 for the forty-eight mainland states. The data for this research include new estimates of governmentally held public wealth, defined as the difference between the value of a government's assets and of its liabilities. The stock of a government's assets are its infra-structure, (roads, buildings, and computers), and its financial assets, (cash, stocks and bonds). Liabilities are short and long-term debt and unfunded public pension funds. Change in the level of this public wealth over a fiscal year constitutes government savings or dissavings, depending upon whether wealth increases or decreases. The researchers assess the budgetary decisions of state officials to expand current services and transfers, to reduce current tax levels, and finally to expand or deplete state public assets. Implicit in this assessment is an analysis of why the time preferences exhibited in the public and private sectors may differ.