All ETDs from UAB

Advisory Committee Chair

Erin L Borry

Advisory Committee Members

Akhlaque Haque

Cole D Taratoot

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

2015

Degree Name by School

Master of Public Administration (MPA) College of Arts and Sciences

Abstract

States often find themselves facing fiscal hardships due to such issues as their own revenue volatility or through federal recessions. The methods taken by the states have varied over the years, but rainy day funds are becoming one of the leading mechanisms for coping with economic disparity. As more state officials look to rainy day funds as a solution, the field for research regarding rainy day funds has expanded. The existing studies have focused on the best way to build and maintain these types of funds, but there has been little information put forth that helps understand how they work. This study looks at the influence that state political ideologies have in the formation and upkeep of rainy day funds by analyzing state fiscal behavior from the years of 2002 to 2013. The study found that there appear to be patterns of growth in rainy day fund balances, but the regression model did not support the hypotheses. The future research of rainy day funds will need to pay attention to the implications and data limitations when conducted similar studies, as these might have played a larger role in the results than was anticipated.

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