The Impact of State

This study explores the impact of state-imposed fiscal rules on municipal fiscal outcomes. It provides a recent profile of state-imposed fiscal rules. Further, with particular attention to the years before, during, and after the Great Recession, this study tests whether municipal fiscal outcomes vary depending on the institutional configuration of state-imposed fiscal rules. This study identifies that there has been a large variation in the institutional design of state-imposed fiscal rules at least since 1991. Using the Government Finance Officers Association’s financial indicator database from 2006 to 2011, this study finds that different rule compositions have distinctive impacts on municipal fiscal outcomes