US states need federal assistance regardless of which party they vote for
Republicans are renewing claims that federal aid to states will amount to red states bailing out blue ones. Covid-era budget data shows that's not the case.
Austerity
Cleveland is still suffering from the last recession. It can’t afford another.
Austerity feeds on the US's unique form of urban decline. To understand how, just look to Northeast Ohio.
This time could be different: Governments have alternatives to austerity
State and local officials in the US are faced with a lot of bad options, but they don't have to cut jobs and services.
The pandemic is flipping the script on funding local government
Relying on targeted taxes and fees has proved troublesome this year, while property taxes look like a relatively safe bet.
The economic risks of slashing local government jobs
As cities and states across the US face stark budget decisions, recent history in Wisconsin provides an object lesson in what can happen when a public-sector workforce shrinks.
Absent aid, few US cities will be able to avoid austerity
Congress appears unlikely to help with the looming Covid-related budget disaster that nearly every local government in America now faces. And cuts in the public sector will only worsen the recession.
White Papers
A looming fiscal crisis raises another fear for US cities: State oversight and financial control boards
Municipal finance experts worry the pandemic economy may revive some fraught methods for cutting city budgets.
The pandemic economy could revive one of America’s ugliest fights over local control
Professor Kim Phillips-Fein explains today's parallels with New York City’s financial disaster in 1975.
The pandemic is pushing US city budgets into a new age of austerity
Economists warn that local budget cuts could counteract federal stimulus money.
Partner content
Post-pandemic, the risk to public transport is that it might never be the same
Unpacking the financial reality of mass transit's uncertain future.
