Contents
List of Illustrations xi
List of Tables xiii
Introduction: Economic and Fiscal Performance
in a Mean-Variance Perspective 1
1. Champions of the State Growth League 5
2. The End of State Income Convergence 25
3. Volatile States: Estimates of the Risk-Return Trade-Off 31
4. Demise of the State Sales Tax 50
5. Economic Consequences of State Tax Policy 64
6. Reliability of Revenues from Alternative
Tax Instruments 73
7. State Budgets Outgrow State Incomes 82
8. Fiscal Uncertainty: The Enemy of EfAcient Budgeting 96
9. Political Ideology and Other Drivers of State
Budget Priorities 119
10. Fresh Perspectives on Familiar Problems 138
Notes 143
References 155
Index 163