STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION ACT OF 1977

The implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 in coal producing states is guided by a partial preemption policy approach t h a t establishes a balance between federal and state decision-making authority. The usefulness of this approach is assessed by analyzing state enforcement actions in relation the institutional capacity of states to shoulder regulatory responsibilities and the propensity of the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) t o oversee state enforcement actions and, if necessary, to undertake corrective action. Our results indicated that state administration of SMCRA was canstrained by the lack of effective federal oversight but was largely unaffected by interstate differences in political, economic, or administrative characteristics.     

State Taxation of Interstate Sales: Enforcement Problems and Prospects

In their search for additional revenues, state governments in recent years have turned greater attention to collection of use taxes. Growth in interstate mail order sales has vastly increased the potential yield from use taxes, but Supreme Court decisions have limited the ability of states to effectively collect the tax. States have attempted to overcome enforcement barriers by joining in interstate use tax compliance compacts, and promoting congressional legislation to overcome constitutional prohibitions.     

Interstate Banking: Current Status and Unfinished Agendas

In 1986, most of the centuries-old barriers against interstatebranch banking fell. By the end of the year, thirty-seven stateshad passed legislation authorizing some form of interstate branchbanking. Moreover, two federal judicial decisions had clearedthe way for interstate banking by restricting state regulatoryauthority over interstate branch banking when it is conductedeither through a shared-use automatic teller machine or by a"nonbank bank." These developments have dramatically changedthe nature of the business of banking, creating an entirelynew legislative agenda for states. High on the list of the itemsthat states must now consider are regulatory and tax parityamong competing financial institutions; multiple taxation offinancial institutions that do business in several states; taxavoidance by out-of-state banks; and out-dated jurisdictionalstandards.     

Interstate Spillovers,Fiscal Decentralization,and Public Spending on Medicaid Home‐ and Community‐Based Services

This article examines the interstate spillover effect of Medicaid expenditures for home‐ and community‐based services (HCBS) and tests the relationship between fiscal decentralization and public spending. Based on the theory of interstate strategic interaction, an empirical model is specified that explicitly accounts for interdependence in states’ spending decisions. The model is estimated by applying spatial econometric methods to panel data for the 50 U.S. states for 2000–2010. Findings show a positive interdependence in state HCBS expenditures that is contingent on similarity in citizen ideology between states. Fiscal decentralization, measured by transfer dependence and revenue autonomy, is positively related to Medicaid HCBS spending.     

Public capital stock and interstate variations in manufacturing efficiency

This study focuses on the role of public capital stock in contributing to interstate differences in productive efficiency in manufacturing. Our motivation is to assess the role of public capital as a source of persistent regional variations in efficiency, and thus determine if public infrastructure policies might reasonably be expected to alter the competitive environment of a state's manufacturing sector. We use a stochastic frontier production function model, explicitly incorporating infrastructure capital, to examine the relative performance of the aggregate manufacturing sector across states and over time. We calculate an index of productive efficiency and estimate the determinants of statewide variations in it. These results show that variations in per capita infrastructure stocks significantly affect manufacturing efficiency. Considering the behavior of public capital as both a direct and an indirect input furthers our understanding of the role of infrastructure and its implications for regional economic development policies.     

Watching the Race: Where You Sit Affects What You See

States do seem to compete in making welfare policy. This competition,however, does not drive states inexorably toward a race to thebottom. Instead, this competition is a political rivalry ofthe kind that leads to unpredictable and unstable outcomes.This rivalry entails interstate learning and results in adaptation,but it stems from its political utility in appealing to votersand gaining personal recognition in the political arena     

The Impact of United States v. Lopez on Intergovernmental Relations: A Preliminary Assessment

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lopez v. United States(1995) was the first occasion since the. 1930s where a congressionalact was overturned on the ground that its subject matter boreno perceptible relation to interstate commerce. The case maysignal significant change in the Court's federalism jurisprudence.Instead of looking mainly to the Tenth Amendment to find constitutionalsafeguards for the states, conservative justices may now identifycommerce-power limitations. The politics of the Lopez case suggestthat the Congress finds electoral advantages in federalizingcrime and is disinclined to sort out roles for different governmentsin law enforcement. Paradoxically, this pattern exists evenas the Congress is undergoing certain changes that may makeconsideration of basic constitutional issues more likely. Finally,this article demonstrates the weakness of public interest groupsin influencing federal policymaking in criminal law.     

Road Fund Tax Compliance: An Analysis of Enhancement Strategies

This paper focuses on a continuing concern of tax administrators, which is the selection of the most efficient means of ensuring tax law compliance. The selection of the most efficient enforcement techniques and strategies can reduce compliance costs, enhance revenues, and support a culture of voluntary tax law compliance. This paper reports on a national study of state compliance efforts regarding state motor fuel taxes and motor vehicle registration fees, which are major sources of revenue for state Road Funds. Because of special complexities and unique interstate cooperation efforts, the compliance efficiency assessment focuses on the commercial carrier taxpayer group.     

Has the Clean Air Interstate Rule Fulfilled Its Mission? An Assessment of Federal Rule‐Making in Preventing Regional Spillover Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency developed the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to minimize sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants and prevent pollution spillover into downwind states. While observers of CAIR claim success in the reduction of air pollution, our innovative multivariate statistical analysis based on spatial and facility‐level panel data finds mixed results concerning the rule's effectiveness. On the one hand, we find that CAIR facilities are associated with increases in the reduction rate of pollution compared to non‐CAIR facilities. However, the evidence suggests that sulfur dioxide levels decreased in CAIR‐mandated facilities before the actual implementation of the program. Additionally, on the one hand, CAIR facilities in the interior of states are associated with slower pollution reduction rates than those on the border. However, this difference in reduction rate does not change dramatically before or after the adoption or implementation of this rule. This suggests that the CAIR program was ineffective in targeting specific facilities most likely to contribute to interstate pollution. We conclude that while CAIR spurred the electrical utility industry to reduce air pollution, some of these reductions occurred before the actual implementation of the program. More substantially, gains in interstate spillover pollution did not occur by targeting specific facilities most likely to spillover but rather through the overall reduction of air pollution in the eastern states.     

Road to Ruin? A Spatial Analysis of State Highway Spending

Do states engage in infrastructure expenditure competition to attract new economic activity? Economic theory is inconclusive on the matter. States might respond to increased infrastructure spending in competitor states by increasing their own infrastructure spending. Conversely, states may decrease spending in the presence of positive spillovers from competitor states' infrastructure investment. Using spatial econometric techniques and focusing specifically on highway spending, we demonstrate that states expend less on highways when spending in neighboring states increases. We explore this possibility further by modeling state personal income growth as a function of own‐state and neighbor‐state highway spending. Our findings suggest positive spillovers influence interstate relationships for highway spending rather than race‐to‐the‐top competition for economic activity.     

An empirical investigation of interstate AFDC benefit competition

Claims that states which offer generous welfare benefits attract the poor and that some states pay low benefits intending to drive the poor away are neither uncommon nor entirely unfounded. This paper employs a two player (state) generalized game to model states' choice of a benefit level in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Migration by the poor in response to interstate differentials in earnings and welfare opportunities, and the subsequent changes in AFDC caseloads, drive this game. Estimation of the model (using 1979 data) suggests that states within approximately 750 miles of each other do engage in a benefit-setting game. The rival's initial number of poor and preference for non-AFDC consumption appear to be the more influential rival characteristics. These findings, while derived from a different methodological approach, are consistent with previous studies which indicate that welfare recipients tend to move toward higher benefit states. Such migration may impede the efficient spatial allocation of labor. The results also indicate that states will tend to offer lower benefits given recipient migration than would be the case otherwise. State jurisdiction over benefits consequently leads to underprovision of AFDC. Federalization of the AFDC program would improve efficiency in terms of the spatial allocation of labor and the provision of AFDC.     

"Welfare Magnets" and Benefit Decline: Symbolic Problems and Substantive Consequences

In response to concern about "welfare migration," some stateshave been freezing benefit levels and trying to institute lowerbenefits for newly arrived out-of-state applicants. There isalso evidence that rising welfare rolls lead states not to raisebenefits. Yet, interstate variation in welfare benefits hasnarrowed over the last two decades. There is also evidence thatwhile interstate competition, or comparison of benefit levels,discourages high-benefit states from raising benefits, stateslook more at themselves then they look at each other. The mostsignificant factor affecting AFDC benefit-levels appears tolie in the intergovernmental arrangements for financing publicassistance (i.e., states often allow Food Stamps and Medicaidto substitute for AFDC). In addition, the migration of poorfemale headed families is patterned after the migration of thepopulation in general; they move to where there is job growth.A major political consequence of stressing welfare migrationmay be its symbolic value in reinforcing prejudices againstwelfare recipients.     

Introduction: Dimensions of Interstate Relations

By dividing political power between the national governmentand multiple constituent governments, a federal system automaticallyproduces relations among the constituent governments. This articledescribes six provisions of the U.S. Constitution for handlingrelations between the states: (1) federal judicial settlementof interstate disputes, (2) cooperative action by states, (3)privileges and immunities within each state for out-of-statecitizens of the United States, (4) full faith and credit forthe public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of each state,(5) interstate rendition, and (6) free interchange of commerceamong the states.     

Reducing traffic fatalities in the American States by upgrading seat belt use laws to primary enforcement

A key component of crime deterrence is the certainty of detection, but in 2005 seat belt laws in 27 states prohibited law enforcement officers from ticketing an observed violation unless the driver is stopped for another offense, which is referred to as secondary enforcement. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have upgraded from secondary to primary enforcement, which authorizes police to stop a motor vehicle if a driver or occupant covered by the law is observed not using a seat belt. To test the impact of seat belt enforcement provisions, cross‐sectional time series regressions are estimated for annual driver and occupant fatality rates in the American states from 1990 to 2002. Using several control variables for other traffic policies and state demographics, the results indicate primary enforcement is more effective in saving lives than secondary enforcement. Furthermore, upgrading to a primary law enhances the effectiveness of an existing state mandatory use law. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Changing State Fiscal Capacity and Tax Effort in an Era of Devolving Government, 1981 2003

The American system of fiscal federalism requires that stateand local governments finance the bulk of their budgets fromown-source revenues, not transfers. This article analyzes statetotal taxable resources from 1981 to 2003 to evaluate how statefiscal capacity has changed in that time and how it has beenaffected by national recessions, to examine the extent to whichfiscal capacity differs among states and whether capacity hasconverged, and to consider whether states have responded toservice demands by changing tax effort and whether tax efforthas converged in the face of interstate competition and otherharmonizing forces. Because the capacity measure employed herecan be compared across years, something impossible with majoralternative indices, the analysis provides insights importantto the analysis of fiscal federalism and of the implicationsof revenue devolution not previously possible.     

Fiscal Competition Among States in Australia: The Demise of Death Duties

This study examines interstate migration in Australia for theperiod 1972–1985 to determine if it was influenced byTiebout-style fiscal competition. In particular, it examinesthe impact of Queensland's abolition of death duties in themid-1970s. The evidence presented is consistent with the commonwisdom surrounding the event as well as with the Tiebout hypothesis.Interstate migration during this period appears to have beenin favor of Queensland and at the expense of those states thatdelayed following the Queensland example. Queensland's populationgrowth during the first three years after abolishing death dutieswas an average 0.20 percent higher due to migrants avoidingthe death duties of the other five states. On average, populationgrowth in each of these states was 0.04 percent lower as a resultof the tax.     

The role of tax preparers in tax compliance

This paper assesses the influence of tax preparers on tax compliance. Using data from the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program and an index of legal ambiguity based on Revenue Rulings, the impact of preparation mode (paid third party vs. self) on compliance at the level of the return line item is probed. The results suggest that preparers contribute to compliance by enforcing legally clear requirements but also contribute to noncompliance, as measured by the IRS, by helping taxpayers take advantage of legal ambiguity. Furthermore, an analysis of a campaign to enforce estimated tax requirements conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue suggests that tax preparers are also an important network for communicating tax agency enforcement priorities to taxpayers.An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the conference on Federal/State Research sponsored by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.     

Through a Glass Darkly: Afrocentrism,War, and World Politics

While the two dominant Eurocentric paradigms of world politics, realism and idealism, place greater emphasis on power and regime type, respectively, in their analyses of war, a recently promulgated Afrocentric paradigm of world politics suggests that cultural characteristics of states are significantly associated with the likelihood of interstate war. Drawing on these competing perspectives, I conduct a data analysis of the relationship between cultural homogeneity and interstate conflict in order to determine the extent to which Afrocentric theses on international conflict are borne out empirically. I find that cultural factors are significant correlates of interstate war as Afrocentrists suggest, although realist and idealist factors are more strongly associated with the likelihood of interstate war. In addition, the findings suggest that multiculturalism—especially ethnic diversity—is a more auspicious path for interstate peace.