The Impact of State Rainy Day Funds in Easing State Fiscal Crises During the 1990–1991 Recession

This article examines the degree to which rainy day funds eased the fiscal stress experienced by states during the 1990–1991 recession. In the first section, a state fiscal policy of neutrality over the business cycle is used as a benchmark for evaluating the use of budget stabilization funds. The next section looks at data from the last three recessions to see how recessions have affected the taxes and expenditures of states. A measure of degree of fiscal stress experienced by each state during the 1990–1991 recession is then calculated. These results are used to empirically investigate the impact of explicit state rainy day funds in easing state fiscal stress. Next, the article examines whether states that had rainy day funds in 1989 were more likely to have less fiscal stress, and whether the specific deposit and withdrawal provisions of these funds made a difference.     

State Fiscal Strategies for the 1990s: Balancing Budgets in a Recession

The fiscal crunch facing many states in FY 1991 has its rootsin the recession, federal mandates, election-year politics,and rapid growth in spending for Medicaid and corrections. Southernand midwestern states that made drastic cuts in response tothe 1981–1982 recession have fared relatively well, butstates in the Northeast have faced tax increases, layoffs, cutsin services, and prolonged conflict over state budgets. Althoughthe tax revolt has not led to appreciably lower taxes, it hasmade raising taxes more difficult, and has heralded a shiftto "boutique government," which may create further fiscal problemsin the long run. State tax increases and spending cutbacks mayalso delay recovery from the recession.     

The Determinants of the Structure of Rainy Day Funds

This article investigates the factors that determine the configuration of budget stabilization funds, also known as rainy day funds, along their two most important dimensions: deposit and withdrawal requirements. These funds are created to accumulate savings in order to reduce the impact of adverse fiscal conditions during downturns. The effectiveness of such funds depends greatly on their institutional structure, and yet most states choose configurations that compromise their efficacy. Using multinomial discrete techniques, and introducing the ordered nature of the requirements in the analysis, the results of this study indicate that political and institutional factors such as the size of the house of the legislature and some strict institutions are associated with weak budget stabilization funds, while economic factors such as the volatility of state tax revenues are associated with stricter funds.     

State Actions Affecting Cities and Counties, 1990–1993: De Facto Federalism

States experienced considrable fiscal stress during the first four years of the 1990s. This has led to changes in five policy areas: (1) state financial aid; (2) local revenue diversification; (3) "sorting out" of responsibilities between the state and local governments; (4) tax and spending limitations; (5) and mandate relief. Some of the most significant changes occurred in California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, and Wisconsin.     

Party Propaganda in Motion: Finland 1954–1991

This study addresses itself to the election campaigns of political parties in Finland and the changes which have taken place over time. Political parties are no longer strictly defined by ideology-rigid class structures have disappeared; and the primary hypothesis is that the parties have grown increasingly similar with respect to propaganda techniques and voter orientation. The empirical data in this study are based on the election platforms and campaign posters of the four largest parties in preparation for the parliamentary elections of 1954, 1966, 1975, 1987 and 1991. In order to elucidate the election propaganda of the political parties even further, a partial examination has been made of election campaign advertising by individual parties and candidates in four political affiliated newspapers as well as in an independent daily newspaper.
The primary hypothesis is clearly supported by this research: political parties have structured their rhetoric to appeal to all voters as opposed to having earlier directed their message to a traditional voter class/category, such as farmers, manual workers and white collar workers. The Communist party platform of 1975, which displayed a high degree of class/category specific orientation, constitutes an exception from this rule. The use of offensive propaganda has decreased, but there are exceptions from this rule as well. This article serves as a summary of the main findings of my licentiate thesis in political science at the Abo Academy University.     

UK Privatisation Revisited: Ideas and Policy Change, 1979–92

Privatisation in the UK was facilitated by the interplay of ideas, institutions, actors, and economic interests. The motivations of the programme were ideational and political, but the objectives were economic and administrative. Together these paved the way for the success of the policy. Although several rationales were at play in the unfolding of privatisation, the ideological predilection of the Thatcher governments underpinned this far-reaching policy reform. This explains why the Thatcher government did not reform nationalized industries within the public sector, but instead shifted them into the private sector. Privatisation succeeded because it was championed by new right policy entrepreneurs, was supported by interest groups prepared to support, or least not impede, such dramatic policy change, and when the public enterprise status quo was deemed in need of reform. Of course, ideas only act as a catalyst for policy change when an established policy agenda having withered, been worn-out or otherwise discredited, can then be successfully challenged.     

Trends in the Fiscal Condition of Cities, 1979–1981

Editor's Note: In the Fall of 1980, the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and the Government Finance Research Center surveyed almost 600 cities—approximately half of which responded—concerning their fiscal condition. This excerpt from the introduction to the Committee's report indicates that most cities expect their financial condition to worsen, The full report is available from the Committee.     

Images Revisited – Postmodern Perceptions of Power and Democracy: Political Empowerment in the Danish Case

This article discusses postmodern perceptions of power and democracy based on a Danish study. Danes appear to have a nuanced perception of societal power and former and well known images of society seem out-faded. Politicians, media, capital, interest organisations and experts are all experienced as powerful. Most people, however, conceptualise power as being blurred, systemic and structural. Nevertheless, the Danes generally do not feel powerless or distant from power. Paradoxically, while experiences of power as 'system' are common, the actors appear to be both resourceful and active – there is a high degree of empowerment. Confidence in indi-vidual capacity to make a difference is considerable. Ordinary Danes seem to believe that it can pay to exercise one's influence – that one is able to make a difference.     

State and Local Fiscal Sustainability: The Challenges

At the state and local level, fiscal sustainability is the long‐run capability of a government to consistently meet its financial responsibilities. It reflects the adequacy of available revenues to ensure the continued provision of the service and capital levels that the public demands. After examining separate revenue and expenditure trends for state and local governments, this article identifies three specific sets of pressures that affect subnational fiscal sustainability—cyclical, structural, and intergovernmental. It then presents three specific examples of these pressures: Medicaid, pensions and retiree health benefits, and infrastructure. The author asserts that without changes in the fiscal system—in both revenues and expenditures—state and local fiscal sustainability will disappear. It concludes with some potential solutions but argues that the most difficult reform is to ensure that the public understands that there is no such thing as a free lunch.     

Party systems and the dynamics of government support: Britain and Germany, 1960–1990

Abstract. This paper examines the impact that one feature of a country's institutional context -the party system - has on public support for governing parties in two West European democracies, Germany and Great Britain. Specifically, it argues that models of government popularity need to take politics and institutions into account, and need to do so in a systematic fashion. Using measures of party system fractionalization and public opinion data spanning the period from 1960 to 1990, the paper demonstrates that the effects of economic conditions on government support are mediated by the choices available to citizens to express discontent with the ruling party. The greater the effective number of parties in a system, the stronger the effects of macro-economic performance on support for the government.     

Institutional change and stability in postcommunist countries, 1990–2002

Abstract.  This article deals with the institutional change of 27 political systems in postcommunist countries, 1990–2002. The authors show that institutional change after the institutionalization of the postcommunist regime is limited and lock-in effects are strong. This applies to the more democratic and affluent countries as well as to the more authoritarian regimes. The authors do not find evidence for theories of institutional change that see institutional development as a linear function of socio-economic factors such as affluence or of domestic political power distribution. The European Union and NATO have an effect that is limited to the overall democratic character of the system.