Arizona State and Local Government Documents Collection
The State and Local Arizona Documents (SALAD) collection contains documents published by the State of Arizona, its Counties, incorporated Cities or Towns, or affiliated Councils of Government; documents produced under the auspices of a state or local agency, board, commission or department, including reports made to these units; and Salt River Project, a licensed municipality. ASU is a primary collector of state publications and makes a concerted effort to acquire and catalog most materials published by state and local governmental agencies.
The ASU Digital Repository provides access to digital SALAD publications, however the ASU Libraries’ non-digitized Arizona documents can be searched through the ASU Libraries Catalog. For additional assistance, Ask A Government Documents Librarian.
Publications issued by the Morrison Institute for Public Programs at Arizona State University are also available in PRISM, in the Morrison Institute for Public Policy - Publications Archive collection.
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- Creators: Hoffman, Dennis L.
Education decisions are among the most important choices people ever make. So we were surprised and disappointed to see an article so loosely reasoned and reckless in its conclusions as “Five Reasons to Skip College” published in Blank Slate at Forbes.com on April 18, 2006. The article never provides a numerical assessment of the costs and benefits of going to college, uses statistics inappropriately and in a way that biases the conclusions against college, contains conceptual errors on how to evaluate the return on a college education, and greatly exaggerates the only substantive criticism of typical evaluations of the financial worth of a college degree.
Volume I: Facts
Analyses of Arizona state government finance, using data of the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and of the combined finances of all state and local governments within Arizona, using data of the U.S. Census Bureau. A historical perspective is provided for both datasets. For combined state and local government finance, comparisons are made to other states and to the national average. In addition, other measures of the tax burden by state are examined.
Volume II: Concepts and Issues
Addresses the conceptual and empirical relationships between taxes, government revenue, and economic growth. Also discusses current issues specific to Arizona state government finance. This is a revised version of the report "Tax Reductions, the Economy, and the Deficit in the Arizona State Government General Fund," incorporating new and updated material.
Volume III: Options for Managing the Arizona State General Fund
Presents options and offers recommendations for managing the Arizona state government general fund. The near-term budget deficit is addressed as well as ways to prevent budget deficits from recurring every time economic growth slows.
The state government general fund shortfall in the current fiscal year is projected to be between about $550 million and $1 billion. This shortfall will need to be eliminated through spending cuts and/or revenue enhancements. The Legislature has demonstrated a preference for spending cuts. However demand does not decline during a recession for most public-sector services, including university services. Any reduction in funding for universities will have a negative and direct effect. A reduction in state government spending for universities of around $200 million would cause direct and indirect job losses of approximately 4,000. A substantial decrease in state government funding for universities will have negative consequences beyond these short-term effects.
The purpose of the stabilization fund is to reduce the fluctuations in general fund revenue caused by the economic cycle. These fluctuations result in large budget surpluses in some years and large deficits in other years. Without considering the structural deficit, the budget stabilization fund almost certainly will not have the funding necessary to offset the cyclical reduction in revenue that will occur during the next recession.
Following an analysis of economic conditions, this paper examines actions that can be taken by state governments to stimulate the economy. The only action that results in a significant near-term effect is to accelerate spending on physical infrastructure that has already been identified as needed.
This is a summary of several reports related to government finance in Arizona that have been produced by the Office of the University Economist since December 2008. Some new information has been added in an attempt to provide a complete picture. The format of this report is a brief summary by issue, sometimes accompanied by a table or chart. References are provided to the report and the page number where additional detail can be found.
An examination of public funding for elementary and secondary education and higher education in Arizona from historical and interstate perspectives, in light of the funding mandate expressed in the Arizona Constitution. An evaluation of public education in Arizona is included.
As the transition from the industrial age to the information age/knowledge economy continues, economic competitiveness has taken on added importance and new meanings. The concepts of competitiveness, productivity, and prosperity can be applied to individuals, companies, regions (such as metropolitan areas or states), and countries, though the meaning/interpretation of each may vary somewhat by the unit of analysis.
Universities contribute to the local community in three distinct ways: 1) Traditional Economic Impact; 2) Benefits to Individuals and Society; 3) Creation of Knowledge. Among the results are higher incomes of individuals and the community as a whole, higher-quality jobs, enhanced economic development, and improvements in prosperity and quality of life.