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Local Government Fiscal Health: Comparing Self‐Assessments to Conventional Measures
Author(s) -
Leiser Stephanie,
Mills Sarah
Publication year - 2019
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/pbaf.12226
Subject(s) - stressor , local government , fiscal year , government (linguistics) , public economics , economics , business , psychology , political science , finance , public administration , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy
Municipal fiscal condition is typically assessed using objective financial indicators, but little is understood about how local officials subjectively evaluate their own fiscal health. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze survey data from Michigan, we explore how local officials conceptualize fiscal health and compare self‐assessments with conventional financial indicators. The results reveal that local officials emphasize long‐run issues and external stressors, but the relative importance of different factors varies depending on whether they report high or low fiscal stress. We suggest that self‐assessments may be a useful supplement to conventional objective measures in capturing “true” fiscal health.