0000000000128954
AUTHOR
Dale J. Roenigk
Exploring Countercyclical Fiscal Policy in Local Government: Moving Beyond an Aggregated Approach
There is a renewed interest in the fiscal health of local governments in the United States, which is being driven in part by academic research, professional organizations, and the economy. This renewed interest also includes how local governments use their cash reserves for countercyclical fiscal policy, which is a stream of research that has received minimal attention in the literature. We respond in this article by exploring how 97 North Carolina counties used their cash reserves from 2005 to 2012, which includes the great recession of 2008 and 2009. Our findings provide some evidence of countercyclical fiscal policy in local government when exploring the use of cash reserves from an aggr…
Navigating efficiency and effectiveness relationships across local government services: Another step toward strategic resource management
A major part of maintaining a well-managed performance measurement system in local government is providing the infrastructure for performance management. The problem is that local officials often struggle with moving from adopting performance measures to actually using them for improving services and for making resource allocation decisions. This article responds to this struggle by presenting information on the relationships between efficiency and effectiveness measures across six local government service areas, with the goal of providing guidance on using performance measures to support strategic resource management. Our research suggests that stronger correlations exist between efficienc…