Fiscal Federalism Resources

Bureau of the Census

  • Census.gov: The US Census Bureau is the first place to start when looking for data on many topics including population, the economy, government, and a variety of other areas.  It covers national, state, and local data.
  • Census of Governments:  These censuses are conducted every five years and the latest available is for 2022.
  • State and Local Government:  This site is the main source for a variety of state and local government data.
  • Quarterly Summary of State and Local Tax Revenue:  A subset of the above data are limited quarterly and annual tax data.

US Bureau of Economic Analysis

  • BEA.gov:  The BEA is the accounting agency for the US Any data pertaining to Gross Domestic Product, any of the other national income measures, international accounts, government income and expenditures can be found here.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics

  • BLS.gov:  Employment and unemployment data in great detail is available at this site.

US Department of Health and Human Services

Congressional Budget Office

National Conference of State Legislatures

  • NCSL: Another source for data and analysis dealing with all issues facing state governments.

State of Tennessee

The Cato Institute

  • Fiscal Federalism:  This 2022 essay addresses the issue of downsizing the Federal government.

The Journal of Economic Literature

  • An Essay on Fiscal Federalism:  This 1999 article is written by a noted economic specialist in public finance, a sub-discipline of economics.  It provides a thorough discussion of the roles of different levels of government and some aspects of fiscal decentralization.

The Urban Institute

USAspending

  • USAspending is the official open data source of federal spending information, including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans.