Fiscal Research Program¹
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

The Fiscal Research Program (FRP) provides nonpartisan research, technical assistance and education in the evaluation and design of state and local fiscal and economic policy, including both tax and expenditure issues. The FRP mission is to promote the development of sound public policy and public understanding of issues concerning state and local governments. Established in 1995, the program helps provide information to state and local governments so they can make informed decisions about complex fiscal issues. The program has a full-time staff and affiliated faculty from throughout Georgia State University and elsewhere who lead its research projects.

One of the objectives of the FRP is to help inform and stimulate debate on fiscal policy. The program publishes Policy Briefs, which are widely distributed summaries of longer reports, as well as essays on issues confronting the state. The program also organizes periodic Seminars, Workshops, Luncheons and Conferences during which fiscal policy makers, administrators, and faculty discuss fiscal policy issues.

The Fiscal Research Program is one of three units under the domestic policy programs of the AYSPS. The activity reports of the other two, the Office of Community Outreach and Partnerships and Research Atlanta, are described in the following sections. David Sjoquist is Director of Domestic Programs and director of the Fiscal Research Program, and Sally Wallace is Associate Director.

In This Page

• Research Agenda
• Reports
• Visitors and Other Activities
• Projects
• Technical Assistance

Research Agenda

The research agenda of the Fiscal Research Program is composed of three broad categories: Intergovernmental Issues, Tax Policy, and the Georgia Economy. Each category is comprised of a set of projects that are FRP focus areas for state policy. Lead researchers for each project are identified.

Intergovernmental Issues:

Education Finance Project. Ross Rubenstein. Explores issues associated with education financing in Georgia.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Project. Sally Wallace. Explores issues inherent in relationships between state and local governments.

Tax and Expenditure Policy:

Business Taxation Project. Martin Grace. Addresses the taxation of banking, insurance, and corporations in general.

Income Taxation Project. Sally Wallace. Studies effects and reform of state and local income taxation.

Property Tax Project. David Sjoquist. Focuses on the structure, administration, and effects of property taxation.

Sales and Excise Taxation Project. Roy Bahl. Studies of the structure, administration, and effects of sales and excise taxation.

Tax Modeling Project. Kelly Edmiston. Involves the development of a sophisticated computer-based model for use in the analysis of tax policy proposals.

Telecommunication/Public Utilities Project. Bruce Seaman. Focuses on alternatives in the taxation of public utilities.

State Budget Project. David Sjoquist. Concerns policy issues associated with government budgeting.

The Georgia Economy:

Economic Development Project. Jeanie Thomas. Addresses the many issues relevant to the state's economic development efforts.

Georgia Data Project. Julie Hotchkiss. Involves development of a database built on the unemployment insurance records from the Department of Labor, welfare records for the Department of Human Resources, and other agency databases.

Georgia Economy Project. David Sjoquist. Studies various sectors and aspects of the Georgia economy such as banking, changes in the distribution of income, and changes in the location of retail sales.

State Indicators Project. David Sjoquist. Focuses the development of a set of indicators to track the state's performance along several demographic and quality of life dimensions.

Urban Policy Agenda Project. David Sjoquist. Involves the study of urban policy in Georgia.

Reports

An Analysis of Plant Closings in Georgia's Apparel and Textile Industries. Julia Melkers, Francis W. Rushing, and David Sjoquist. This report explores various issues and programs associated with re-employment of workers from apparel and textile plants that close.

The Application of Local Economic Development Incentives in Georgia. Julia Melkers, Francis W. Rushing, and Jeanie Thomas. This report uses results of a mail survey and a series of case studies. The report addresses the type and level of economic development incentives offered at the local level in Georgia.

Economic Development: Report of Statewide Results of Georgia Poll, 2001. Jeanie Thomas and William J. Smith. Fiscal Research Program/Applied Research Center. This report presents results of an annual survey on economic development activities in the State.

Are Small Urban Centers Magnets for Economic Growth? Benjamin Scafidi, William J. Smith,* and Mary Beth Walker. This report for the Georgia State Office of Planning and Budget estimates a model of county-level job growth and finds an effect of small urban centers on their regional economies.

Changes in the Geographic Distribution of County-Level Sales Tax Bases in Georgia. William J. Smith.* This report presents the geographic changes in county-level sales tax base for Georgia and discusses the fiscal implications of these changes.

Estimates of the Effects of Education and Training on Earnings. William J. Smith.* This report reviews literature on the effect of training on earning and provides additional empirical evidence.

Employment Trends in Georgia Border Counties. Saloua Sehili.** This report explores the issues of whether Georgia's border counties have lost employment to surrounding states.

The Georgia Sales Tax Revenue Impact From Electronic Commerce. Richard Hawkins.** This report presents estimates of sales tax revenue loss by Georgia counties due to e-commerce.

Georgia Taxes: A Summary of Major State and Local Government Taxes, 77th Edition, January 2001. Jack Morton and Richard Hawkins.** A quick overview of all state and local taxes in Georgia.

Interstate Banking and Georgia-Based Banks. Dileep R. Mehta. This report explores whether the easing of the restrictions on interstate banking has generated positive, risk-adjusted benefits.

Public Opinion on Issues of Tax Fairness. David Sjoquist. This report contains the results of a public opinion survey of Georgia residents regarding issues associated with tax fairness.

Racial Disparities in School Finance Adequacy: Evidence From Georgia and the Nation. Ross Rubenstein. This report explores the relationship between the level of education expenditures and the racial composition of school districts in Georgia and the nation, and estimates the cost of achieving benchmarks for school finance adequacy.

A Single-Factor Sales Apportionment Formula in The State of Georgia: Issues and Consequences. Kelly Edmiston. This report provides an analysis of revenue and economic development implications of the corporate income tax apportionment formula.

Urban Welfare-to-Work Transitions in the 1990s: Patterns in Six Urban Areas. John Baj, Julie L. Hotchkiss, et. al. This report focuses on patterns of welfare use and employment for welfare leavers for central counties in each of six metropolitan areas.

Where Has the Money Gone? Part II. The Supplemental Budget. Alan Essig. This report examines the sources of additional general fund revenues within the supplemental budget and how those general fund revenues have been appropriated for fiscal years 1996 through 2001.

Study of Fiscal Incentives for 'Green' Business in Ohio. Julia Melkers, David Sjoquist, Jeanie Thomas, and Richard Stock. Report to the Ohio Department of Development, Office of Energy Efficiency.

Georgia Teaching Force Center, Status Report 2001. Catherine Freeman, David Sjoquist, and Benjamin Scafidi. This report addresses factors affecting the supply of teachers in Georgia.

Residential Mobility, Migration, and Georgia's Labor Force. Amy Helling and Nevhahar Ertas. This report examines the characteristics of workers who recently moved into and within Georgia, focusing in particular on who is employed in newly created jobs.

Visitors and Other Activities

The Fiscal Research Program was pleased to host visiting scholars during the year who traveled to Georgia State University to conduct research.

Richard Hawkins** (Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing and Economics at the University of West Florida) visited during the year. He worked with the Fiscal Research Program on the Seventh Edition of "Georgia Taxes: A Summary of Major State and Local Government Taxes," and on other projects of fiscal importance.

The Fiscal Research Program participated in several presentations to international visitors to the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Visitors learned about various economic development research conducted in the FRP and the Young School. In February, the FRP participated in a conference on Local and Comparative Perspectives on Managing Atlanta's Growth, presented by The Georgia State University Law Review and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

The FRP hosted seminars and visiting lecturers on the following subjects:

David M. Van Slyke (Georgia State University) spoke on The Mythology of Privatization in Contracting for Social Services, May 30, 2001.

Catherine Freeman (Georgia State University) spoke on Resource Deployment and Student Achievement in Tennessee Middle Schools, August 2001.

Casey Dawkins (Georgia Institute of Technology) spoke on Local Government Fragmentation and Residential Segregation: Evidence from the 2000 Census, October 2001.

Ed Olsen (University of Virginia) spoke on Housing Programs for Low-Income Households, December 2001.

In May, the Fiscal Research Program sponsored a day-long conference on split rate property taxation. "Taxing Land, Taxing Building: Should They Be the Same?" funded by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Participants included appointed and elected state government officials, business leaders, government agencies, lawyers, and faculty from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.Speakers included:

• Roy Bahl (Dean, Andrew Young School)
• Gary Cornia (Brigham Young University)
• Jim Davis (Bibb County, Georgia Assessor)
• Jerry Durkin (Wood Partners)
• Jerome German (Lucas County, Ohio Assessor)
• Laura Haase (Georgia Municpal Association)
• John Hunsucker (Realty Consulting Services)
• David Miller (University of Pittsburgh)
• Joan Youngman (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy).

Projects

Children at Risk. David Sjoquist with Catherine Freeman, Craig Gordon, Laura Henderson, Patricia Ketsche, Bentley Ponder, Erdal Tekin, and Lauren Waits. Material prepared for the Office of School Readiness measuring children at risk.

Country/Segment Study of Direct Foreign Assessment. David Sjoquist with Bruce Seaman and Robert Moore. This project, being conducted for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism (GDITT) assists GDITT in better targeting countries and regions so as to improve the "returns" to incentive plans by better understanding the country-specific and industry-specific macroeconomic determinants of firm re-location and direct investment. ($62,952)

Development of Logic Models. David Sjoquist with Julia Melkers. This project, being conducted for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism develops a comprehensive performance monitoring system with methods and processes for collection, maintenance and reporting of data. ($38,359)

Evaluation of a Proposed Economic Development Incentive. David Sjoquist with Kelly Edmiston. This project, being conducted for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism evaluates a proposal to implement in Georgia an economic development incentive based on an incentive employed by the State of Kentucky. ($39,744)

Georgia Administrative Data Project. Julie Hotchkiss and Lakshmi Pandey. This project, also from the U.S. Department of Labor through the University of Baltimore, matches adult AFDC/TANF recipients with quarterly wage earning for 95.1 through 96.4. ($2,500)

Information Needs and Availability Issues. David Sjoquist with Julia Melkers. This project, being conducted for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism addresses how well Georgia is providing information that is important and useful to business prospects. ($45,406)

Labor Market and the Supply of Teachers. Catherine Freeman, Benjamin Scafidi, and David Sjoquist. This project, being conducted for the Georgia Teaching Force Center, focuses on the relationship between broader labor market trends and the supply of teachers. ($22,000)

Land Value Taxation. David Sjoquist. With funding from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a conference was presented on split rate property taxation, "Taxing Land, Taxing Building: Should They Be the Same?" The conference explained what a split-rate property tax is and how it works in practice, and presented the reasons for and against a split-rate property tax. ($25,000)

Measuring the Size and Dimensions of the "High-Tech" Industry in Georgia. Jeanie Thomas and Susan Walcott. This project, conducted for the State of Georgia Office of Planning and Budget and the Georgia Research Alliance, develops an appropriate definition of "high-tech," measures the size of the high-tech industry in Georgia and the different components of that industry, and creates a website which will communicate the information generated in the project.

Revenue Implications of Tax Changes. David Sjoquist with Kelly Edmiston, Alan Essig, Catherine Freeman, Richard Hawkins, Sally Wallace and Laura Wheeler. This project conducted for the State of Georgia Office of Planning and Budget, identifies legislation and other measures affecting revenue collections by the State of Georgia since 1987 and the fiscal impact of such measures as adjusted. ($31,033)

Roles and Authority of School Boards. Catherine Freeman. This project, funded by Georgia Power, investigated the roles and authority of local school boards across the country. ($5,000)

Space and theTransition from Welfare and Work. Julie Hotchkiss. This project, sponsored by the Atlanta Private Industry Council, supports research on evaluation of the role of geography (space) in successful transition from welfare to work. ($54,006)

Student Industry Study. David Sjoquist with Julia Melkers. This project provides research for the Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism (GDITT) and coordinates a statewide student competition for best industry studies in specific industries and countries to be defined by GDITT. ($13,500)

Tax Credits and Incentives. David Sjoquist with Julia Melkers and Jeanie Thomas. This project, conducted for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Dayton with assistance from the Office of Energy Efficiency, studies the role tax incentives and exemptions can play in encouraging the development and creation of "green" businesses in Ohio. ($79,045)

Welfare and Employment. Lakshmi Pandey. This project, provides data on welfare and employment for Portland State University. ($1,645)

Welfare to Work. Julie Hotchkiss. This project, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor through the University of Baltimore, provides research on the evaluation of trends in transitions from welfare to work as part of a multi-state research project.

Technical Assistance

Alan Essig provided assistance to the State of Georgia Governor's Office, the State of Georgia Senate Research Office, and the State of Georgia Office of Planning and Budget which includes his membership and work with the Georgia Occupational Review Council.

Catherine Freeman and Benjamin Scafidi provided ongoing assistance to the Georgia Governor's Education Review Commission.

Martin Grace provided ongoing research assistance to the State of Georgia Senate and House Insurance Legislative Committees and to the House Insurance Premium Study Committee.

Julie Hotchkiss provided ongoing technical assistance to the Georgia Department of Human Resources and the Georgia Department of Labor.

Julie Hotchkiss and Lakshmi Pandey provided ongoing assistance to the Armstrong State University working with ES202 data from 1979 to 1997. They also work with the State of Georgia Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee on a the TANF recipients project.

Bruce Seaman continued research support for the Joint Study Committee on Franchise Fees and Conditions, Rights of Way, and Tax Implications of Competitive Markets, and published the report, "An Analysis of Franchise Fees in Georgia" for the committee.

Jeanie Thomas serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) to the Georgia Rural Development Council and participates in the Georgia Quality Growth Partnership (and its Legislative Committee). The Partnership was initiated by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and the Atlanta Regional Commission. Jeanie also served on the board of the Georgia Economic Developers Association, and as chair of its Public Policy Research committee. She also provides technical assistance to the University of Georgia and the Board of Regents.

Sally Wallace and David Sjoquist provided ongoing assistance to the State of Georgia Department of Revenue, the Governor's Office, and the State Legislature on Tax Proposals.