Measuring the Intrastate Distribution of State Government Funds: A Case Study¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Coomes, Paul^a | Stober, William^b | Thalheimer, Richard^c

Affiliations: [a] College of Business and Public Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA | [b] University of Kentucky | [c] University of Louisville

Note: [1] Paul Coomes is Associate Professor of Economics and Richard Thalheimer is Associate Professor of Equine Administration at the University of Louisville. William J. Stober is Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky. We thank Doug Anderson and John Merchant for research assistance, and the Greater Louisville Economic Development Partnership for primary funding of this project. The study on which this paper is based was completed in August 1992. As is customary, the authors assume full responsibility for the results and conclusions in this paper.

Abstract: In this paper, we provide an example of how to allocate state government revenues and expenditures to component counties. We track major flows of state government funds to and from 120 counties within Kentucky for fiscal year 1990–1991. Accounting information is used where available, and is supplemented with estimates constructed from demographic, socioeconomic and administrative data. The analysis tracks about five billion dollars in state government funds, and reveals the substantial intrastate transfer of funds which occurred that year.

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-1994-20401

Journal: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 285-329, 1994