Capital Budgeting in the States After the Great Recession

Abstract

The Great Recession has placed fiscal pressure on the states’ ability to finance capital projects. This research focuses on state capital budgeting practices as an important set of practices especially after the Great Recession. This analysis is based on the author’s survey of forty states in 2011–2012. By focusing on a state government’s policies and capital budgeting practices, this analysis is an evaluation of tendencies in capital budgeting processes across all states during the recent period of economic decline. This study expands knowledge of capital budgeting for practicing planners, developers, budget analytics, debt managers, and policy makers in the areas of regional collaborations, capital planning, and capital budgeting.