State & Local Finance

How bad is the state and local pension crisis really?

Finn Schüle and Louise Sheiner

Monday, July 15, 2019

California state worker Albert Jagow (L) goes over his retirement options with Calpers Retirement Program Specialist JeanAnn Kirkpatrick at the Calpers regional office in Sacramento, California October 21, 2009. Calpers, the largest U.S. public pension fund, manages retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million people, with assets comparable in value to the entire GDP of Israel. The Calpers investment portfolio had a historic drop in value, going from a peak of $250 billion in the fall of 2007 to $167 billion in March 2009, a loss of about a third during that period. It is now around $200 billion. REUTERS/Max Whittaker (UNITED STATES) - WASE5AM11ZS01

Are state and local pension funds really in crisis?

Monday, July 15, 2019

A tanning salon sits vacant, out of business and for sale in Shamokin May 1, 2014. Shamokin, Pennsylvania, tucked away in the coal country about 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia, has $800,000 of unpaid bills and can't get a loan from a bank. It is so broke, the gas service to city hall was temporarily cut off last month. So the council for the city of 7,000 residents has agreed to seek entry to a state financial oversight program dating from 1987 that facilitates access to credit and permits the levying of certain taxes. Picture taken May 1, 2014. To match Story USA-PENNSYLVANIA/MUNICIPALS REUTERS/Mark Makela (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS SOCIETY) - GM1EA5217EX01

Muni bond defaults more common than rating agency tallies suggest

Michael Ng and David Wessel

Monday, July 15, 2019

People walk past a closed store in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 31, 2015. Puerto Rico will miss a payment on debt due August 1, the governor's chief of staff said on Friday, an event that will be considered a default by investors as the commonwealth lurches towards what could be one of the largest U.S. municipal debt restructurings in history. The island faces a number of debt payments that day but had signaled in recent weeks that it may miss the $58 million payment on Public Finance Corporation (PFC) bonds. REUTERS/Alvin Baez - GF20000010455

How Puerto Rico’s default lowered states’ borrowing costs

Jeffrey Cheng and David Wessel

Monday, July 15, 2019

Workers are pictured at the southbound entrance to the double deck State Route 99 highway tunnel under construction in Seattle Washington, U.S. March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Redmond - RC176B0BAF20

What is driving up the cost of highway construction?

Manny Prunty and David Wessel

Monday, July 15, 2019

WEBINAR – The Flint water crisis: Lessons learned

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM EST

Marijuana is seen for sale at Harborside, one of California's largest and oldest dispensaries of medical marijuana, on the first day of legalized recreational marijuana sales in Oakland, California, U.S., January 1, 2018. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage - RC14812827E0

An easy fix could give the marijuana industry access to banking

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Visitors walk to the platform at the 96th Street Station during a preview event for the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly - RC14771C8740

Tax advantages and imperfect competition in auctions for municipal bonds

Daniel Garrett, Andrey Ordin, James W. Roberts, and Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato

Friday, November 30, 2018

Housing-devaluation

The devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods

Andre M. Perry, Jonathan Rothwell, and David Harshbarger

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Countering the geography of discontent

Countering the geography of discontent: Strategies for left-behind places

Clara Hendrickson, Mark Muro, and William A. Galston

November, 2018