Energy and Land Use

In an era of federal deficits and struggling municipalities, the states have emerged as the most significant governmental actors of the 1990s. But state governments face a major challenge of fiscal planning in the midst of economic change. Bahl and Duncombe tackle this challenge head-on. Using New York as a case in point, they identify looming dangers for state revenue and expenditure planning created by the economic shifts of the 1980s. The authors offer invaluable lessons for the 1990s. They question forcing a "1960s tax policy through a 1990s economy, ' and they seek long-range fiscal planning In place of the "mad scramble for eleventh-hour solutions" to annual budget crises. The book is thought-provoking, exhaustively researched, and sensibly written--a glimmer of sanity in an uncertain time. Its lessons are applicable everywhere and should be read by all those seeking a route through the tangled thickets of government policy for economic growth.