Special Briefing

The panel discusses the outlook for mass transportation across the US amid waning federal pandemic emergency aid and lagging ridership as metropolitan area commuters continue to work from home. This episode includes a remembrance of our great friend and colleague, Richard Ravitch, the former New York State lieutenant governor, Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, Volcker Alliance direct...

The panel of experts discusses the fallout for the US economy, states, and municipalities from the recent deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. Our panel of experts includes Matt Fabian, partner, Municipal Market Analytics; Marcia Howard, executive director, Federal Funds Information for States; Annie Linskey, white house reporter, the Wall Street Journal; Vikram Rai, managing director and head...

While the US unemployment rate is near a record low and $5 trillion in federal pandemic aid continuing to support the economy, American cities are enjoying healthy budget surpluses as COVID-19 recedes. But many of the underlying contributors to municipal distress and bankruptcy in the 2010s—underfunded pensions, deteriorating infrastructure, and population loss among them—still pose threats to man...

America’s hottest growth cities and states are facing challenges as they deploy resources to handle the recent pickup of domestic and international immigration to the South and West. US Census data show that Texas and Florida showed a net gain of almost 1 million residents in 2022; they and the rest of the ten fastest-growing states added a total of 1.6 million people. Will this influx help keep t...

With working from home persisting even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, our panel of experts discuss how to attract more people back to center cities, and the keys to increasing street life, bolstering commerce, and preventing further losses in municipal property and sales tax revenues. Our panel of experts includes Maria Torres-Springer, New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Develo...

As governors and mayors announce their spending plans for fiscal 2024, the panel of experts discuss state and local budgets in uncertain times. Our panel of experts includes Shelby Kerns, executive director, National Association of State Budget Officers; Eric Kim, senior director, Fitch Ratings; Lauren Larson, director, Colorado Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting; and Gabriel Petek,...

The panel of experts discuss the future of downtowns in American cities as office vacancy numbers remain high and public transportation usage remains low. Our panel of experts includes Howard Cure, director of municipal bond research, Evercore Wealth Management; Steven J. Davis, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and professor of business and economics, University of Chicago Booth School of Busine...

The panel of experts discuss issues including inflation, employment, housing, jobs, and the possibility of a recession, as we look towards the new year. Our panel of experts includes Mayor Kate Gallego, Mayor of the City of Phoenix, Arizona; Emily Brock, director, Federal Liaison Office, Government Finance Officers Association; Natalie Cohen, president and founder, National Municipal Research; Jul...

The panelists discuss how Inflation has yet to be controlled, recession is looming, federal COVID-19 budgetary aid will soon expire, and working from home is decreasing demand for Center City businesses. What can be done? Our panel of experts includes Greg David, director, business and economics reporting program, City University of New York Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, and a contr...

The panelists discuss the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on state and local budgets, focusing on the opportunities and challenges that are on the road ahead. Our panel of experts included Ben Beachy, vice president of manufacturing and industrial policy, BlueGreen Alliance; Sarah Gimont, associate legislative director for environment, energy and land use policy, National Association of Coun...

The panelists discuss the latest figures on inflation released on quarter 3 of 2022, and analyze the likelihood of stagflation and recession as these inflationary pressures continue to impact the US economy as well as the outlook for states and municipalities and their budgets. Our panel of experts includes Alison Premo Black, senior vice president and chief economist, American Road & Transportati...

Even as the US recovers from the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cities continue to see substantial weakness in commercial office space utilization. The expert panel discusses research findings that reflect the slow return of employees to offices, which cities’ tax revenues may be most vulnerable, and what solutions are being deployed to adapt to the new workplace reality. Our panel of e...

In a Special Briefing hosted by the Volcker Alliance and Penn IUR an expert panel discusses actions states and municipalities are taking related to tax relief, if they will provide inflation relief or spur economic growth—or whether they will lead to shortfalls if rising interest rates end in recession, just as much of the pandemic aid is set to expire. This Special Briefing features a panel of ex...

With the passage of the IIJA in November 2021, governments face the challenge of allocating more than $1 trillion of funding in a strategic manner that address both past neglected needs and paves the way for a sustainable future. Panelists discuss innovative solutions being pursued, roadblocks that are on the horizon, and the overall impact of this funding on the nation’s infrastructure and econom...

As the outlook for inflation, interest rates, the possibility of a recession, are in flux, this Special Briefing looks at what it all meant for state and local finance. Jerome H. Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, delivers brief welcoming remarks in appreciation of Paul A. Volcker (1927-2019), former Federal Reserve Chair and founding Chairman of the Volcker All...

The shift to working from home, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, poses a fiscal threat to the nation’s biggest cities, which depend on commercial property taxes for revenue, according to panelists at the March 17 Special Briefing hosted by The Volcker Alliance and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. Panelists discuss research on the rise of at-home employment and its implications for budge...

As Mayor Adam’s Administration begins to lay out plans for the future of New York City, panelists discuss the challenges New York City faces in 2022, including COVID-19, street crime, and the possibility of fiscal challenges as federal pandemic aid wanes in coming years. Featuring the findings from Penn IUR's Recovering Cities Project, which tracks the New York economy through 2020-21, and the fin...

At the start of 2022 panelists join to discuss the anticipated path of the US economy, inflation, interest rates, the impact COVID-19 continues to have, and whether state and local governments face a “fiscal cliff” as federal pandemic budget aid is expended. This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Lucy Dadayan, senior research associate with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Cent...

With states and localities already contemplating how to maximize federal infrastructure funding after the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, panelists in this episode discuss spending plan strategies and what may lay ahead for states and localities now burgeoning with one-time cash. This special briefing features a panel of experts, including US Representative Earl Blumenauer (...

Three days after President Biden signed the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, panelists discuss the role of climate change in state and local finance budgeting, as well as the role the federal government may play under the bill and other measures proposed by the Biden Administration. This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Tim Coffin, director of sustainability, Breckinr...

As finer details of the forthcoming infrastructure package are forming in congressional negotiations, panelists contemplate the unmet needs of US states and municipalities and how this federal funding could be strategically utilized to address these needs in a comprehensive manner. This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Carolyn Coleman, executive director and CEO of the Leagu...

As deliberations on an Infrastructure Package continue in Washington DC, the expert panel focuses on America’s needs for investment in clean water and wider access to broadband Internet service in states, cities, and counties. This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Mayor Ras J. Baraka of Newark, New Jersey; Kathryn de Wit, project director of Broadband Access Initiative; Thom...

Municipal officials and analysts have their sights set on social equity and climate resilience as Congress debates more than a trillion dollars of infrastructure spending proposed by the Biden administration, panelists focus on how state and local governments will use existing American Rescue Plan Act funding to address broadband and water and sewer needs. Additionally, panelists weigh in on the o...

With states wrapping up FY 2021 and enacting FY 2022 budgets, the unique challenge of allocating the $350 billion in direct aid contained in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was being across the US. The expert panel discusses the impact on state budgets of the act’s assistance to individuals and families, educational institutions, and health care and mass-transportation systems. This spe...

With the Biden Administration’s newly proposed American Jobs Plan being debated and refined in Congress, the panelists review the Plan’s priorities and what they estimate as likely to emerge as Congress debates the massive proposal. Additionally, the panelists discuss the concept of fifteen-year financing strategy on states, counties, cities, schools, and employment. This special briefing features...