A UConn team provides expertise to the U.S. Department of Treasury and the United Nations Development Programme.
The team, which is led by Professor Mark Robbins and includes Professors Mohamad Alkadry, Bill Simonsen, and Lloyd Blanchard, is helping the Republic of Uzbekistan to improve their financial management practices. Their work will provide greater fiscal transparency, more complete budget information, and a higher level of compliance with international standards. The activities are supported by a $370,000 award from the U.S. Department of State. The work will continue through October 2022.
Professor Eric Brunner studies the effects of wind energy installations on school district revenues and expenditures.
Professor Brunner and co-author Joshua Hyman of Amherst College examined the impact of wind energy installation on school district finances and student achievement. Their study used data on the timing, location, and capacity of the universe of U.S. installations from 1995 through 2017. Brunner and Hyman presented their work earlier this fall at the APPAM’s 42nd Annual Fall Research Conference.
Professor Bill Simonsen co-authored a paper in Public Administration Review on property tax and school bond referenda with Robbins and Brunner
The paper, “Property Tax Information and Support for School Bond Referenda: Experimental Evidence," examines whether providing voters with information about the tax consequences of voting yes on school district bond referenda affects voter support. Using a randomized survey experiment, the trio found that the probability of voting yes on local bond referenda decreases by 6 to 9 percentage points when voters are provided information about the tax consequences of voting yes. The paper provides some of the first causal estimates of the effects of property tax wording on support for school bond referenda.