How do local governments respond to fiscal stress? Do they rely more on revenue-raising strategies, budget-cutting, short-term cash management practices such as fund transfers and short-term debt, or efficiency reforms? What factors determine their retrenchment responses? With data from a survey of officials from municipal governments with a population of 50,000 or more, the project tests a comprehensive model that outlines how internal fiscal policy choices, organizational management, and external environmental factors shape the process and outcomes of retrenchment. It analyses how local economic trends, local fiscal institutions, citizen preferences, and differences in intergovernmental systems, shape the retrenchment responses of cities. The project also examines how city management – such as organizational decision-making structures and the implementation of rational planning approaches – can make it easier or harder to respond to fiscal difficulties.

Jimenez, Benedict S. (2022) Applying the loss-conflict model of fiscal retrenchment: Understanding city expenditure and revenue responses to a budget crisis. Public Performance and Management Review 45(1): 1-29

Jimenez, Benedict S. (2019) Assessing the efficacy of rational budgeting approaches: Budget diagnosis, financial planning, and the fiscal performance of municipal governments. Public Management Review. 21(3): 400-22.

Jimenez, Benedict S. (2018) Organizational strategy and the outcomes of fiscal retrenchment in major cities in the United States. International Public Management Journal 21(4): 589-618

Jimenez, Benedict S. (2017) Institutional constraints, rule following and circumvention: Tax and expenditure limits and the choice of fiscal tools during a budget crisis. Public Budgeting and Finance. 37(2): 5-34