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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Budgeting By Priorities: Balancing Stability With Economic Responsiveness, Meagan M. Jordan, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Somayeh Hooshmand Jan 2017

Budgeting By Priorities: Balancing Stability With Economic Responsiveness, Meagan M. Jordan, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Somayeh Hooshmand

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This article investigates how the budget priorities of Arkansas state government departments vary with changes in economic conditions. The Arkansas Revenue Stabilization Act (ARSA) of 1945 established a formalized method of state budgeting by priorities. State funds are allocated, meaning the funds are legally made available, according to priority levels established each year by the Governor and the General Assembly. Those allocated funds are later distributed, meaning released for spending, according to priority levels as funds become available. In this study, we ask the research question: Are departmental budget priorities driven by stability or are they responsive to economic condition? …


The Crisis In State Highway Finances: Its Roots, Current Effects, And Some Possible Remedies, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Lenahan O'Connell Oct 2013

The Crisis In State Highway Finances: Its Roots, Current Effects, And Some Possible Remedies, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Lenahan O'Connell

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on the American states and the sources of the expanding structural imbalance between their highway-related revenues on the one hand and expenditures for transportation infrastructure needs on the other. The paper describes the roots of the funding problem over recent decades, looks at some of the responses taken at the state and federal level, and discusses their inherent limitations as solutions to this funding crisis. The paper also presents several policy recommendations for increasing revenues. We demonstrate that a variable rate gas tax indexed to the construction cost index and improvements in automobile fuel efficiency and a …