title: The Government Finance Database: A Common Resource for Quantitative Research in Public Financial Analysis.
abstract: Quantitative public financial management research focused on local governments is limited by the absence of a common database for empirical analysis. While the U.S. Census Bureau distributes government finance data that some scholars have utilized, the arduous process of collecting, interpreting, and organizing the data has led its adoption to be prohibitive and inconsistent. In this article we offer a single, coherent resource that contains all of the government financial data from 1967-2012, uses easy to understand natural-language variable names, and will be extended when new data is available.
authors.affiliation: Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Center for Governance and Public Policy Research, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kawika
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pierson
authors.affiliation: Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Center for Governance and Public Policy Research, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hand
authors.affiliation: Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Center for Governance and Public Policy Research, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D003628:Database Management Systems; D005380:Financing, Government; D017150:Public Sector; D014481:United States