Suchergebnisse

Several researchers who have studied the impact of unrestricted state and federal grants on local government spending have observed a "flypaper effect" in which the expenditure effect of such grants is larger than a comparable increase in community income. Conventional explanations of this effect rely heavily on assumptions of voter misperception or official manipulations of voters to induce a higher level of spending than would otherwise be approved. An alternate model is presented to argue that the flypaper effect arises from the uncertainty and instability of grant revenue and risk-averse behavior by local officials.

FOLLOWING THE SHIFT OF THE SMALL CITIES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM IN 1982 FROM FEDERAL TO STATE CONTROL, FOUR SOUTHERN STATES-ALABAMA, GEORGIA, LOUISIANA, AND NORTH CAROLINA-ADOPTED POLICIES INTENDED TO REDUCE, IF NOT ELIMINATE, THE FEDERAL EMPHASIS ON HOUSING REHABILITATION AND OTHER ACTIVITIES THAT BENEFIT LOWER INCOME GROUPS. THESE STATES NOW EMPHASIZE PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS, WHICH BENEFIT A BROADER SPECTRUM OF THE POPULATION, AS WELL AS POLICIES DESIGNED TO SPREAD FUNDS BROADLY ACROSS COMMUNITIES. AS A RESULT, THE SHARE OF FUNDS GOING TO SMALLER COMMUNITIES HAS INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY. STATES ALSO APPEAR TO BE ALLOCATING FEWER FUNDS TO POORER COMMUNITIES THAN DID FEDERAL OFFICIALS, ALTHOUGH TO DATE THE DIFFERENCE IS NOT SUBSTANTIAL.

This article argues that the adverse impact of Medicaid on state budgets alleged in various public debates has been overstated, in some measure because of the inaccurate and misleading manner in which Medicaid expenditures are appropriated in state budgeting systems. Data on Medicaid and mental health spending in the state of New York is used for analysis. The first section provides a Medicaid spending and budgeting background. The second section discusses Medicaid and mental health in New York. The third section describes actual budgeted spending for mental health in New York, and the final section provides a discussion and concluding comments.

The design and use of federal grants-in-aid to state and local governments have posed policy choices for every presidential administration since that of Lyndon B. Johnson. The papers in this volume describe the decisions these administrations have made, analyze why only some of these choices prevailed politically, and explain how large amounts of federal aid have affected local governments. These studies mark the final chapter in a major research effort carried out by the Brookings Governmental Studies program to evaluate the effects of general revenue sharing and other broad-based forms of aid that were introduced in the early 1970s. Kenneth T. Palmer traces the major steps in the evolution of grants-in-aid since the Johnson administration. Lawrence D. Brown's essay on the politics of devolution examines the successes and failures of innovative grant policies such as revenue sharing and block grants. James W. Fossett, writing on the politics of dependence, analyzes the effect of the massive expansion of federal grants to the large cities in the 1970s.