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What Types of School Capital Projects are Voters Willing to Support?
Author(s) -
ZIMMER RON,
BUDDIN RICHARD,
JONES JOHN,
LIU NA
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5850.2011.00973.x
Subject(s) - referendum , capital (architecture) , outcome (game theory) , quality (philosophy) , public economics , business , state (computer science) , bond , economics , actuarial science , finance , microeconomics , political science , computer science , archaeology , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , politics , law , history
In many states, investments in school capital must be approved by bond referenda. Consequently, voter preferences can directly impact the quality of school facilities and their infrastructure. Researchers have often analyzed the causal mechanisms of referendum passage, but they have not examined whether the type of capital project affects the outcome of the referendum itself. In this paper, we use data from the state of Michigan to examine whether voters are willing to provide more or less support for specific types of capital investments. We focus on the relationship between voter support for maintenance versus the construction of a new building or additions to existing buildings. Our analysis suggests there is a higher approval rate for maintenance of existing facilities than the construction of new school buildings or additions.