Fiscal Centralization: Theory and Evidence from the Great Depression

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Coen-Pirani, Daniele; Wooley, Michael
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20150131
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 39-61
• 关键词: new-deal; political-economy; STATES; tax; GOVERNMENT; SYSTEM

摘要

The Great Depresion produced a profound and lasting influence on the structure of US government. This paper studies theoretically and empirically the increased centralization of revenues and expenditures by the states relative to local governments during this period. A model of property and sales taxation and tax delinquency is introduced. In the model, the income decline of the Depression causes a rise in property tax delinquency and leads to a shift toward sales taxation and fiscal centralization by the states. Empirical evidence based on cross-state variation in the severity of the Depression is consistent with the model's key predictions.