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Disentangling Patterns of State Debt Financing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

James C. Clingermayer  and
B. Dan Wood
James C. Clingermayer
Affiliation:
University of Texas, El Paso
B. Dan Wood
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University
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Abstract

We examine the determinants of change in state government indebtedness from 1961 through 1989 using a pooled time series cross-sectional analysis. The analysis reveals that debt is primarily a function of economic conditions reflecting both the need to borrow and the capacity of states to repay debt. However, political factors such as culture, partisan competition, and electoral cycles also affect state debt. We also find very weak evidence that tax and expenditure limitations, ironically, may increase state indebtedness, while constitutional debt limitations have no effect upon slowing the growth of state debt.

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 108 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1995

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