Working Paper Can Fiscal Rules Constrain the Size of Government? An Analysis of the “Crown Jewel” of Tax and Expenditure Limitations

We are grateful to Carol Hedges, Director of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, for a helpful discussion concerning TABOR in general and the treatment of the TABOR surpluses in the Census of Governments data in particular. Natalie Mullis of the Colorado Legislative Council provided both valuable insight into TABOR and numerous useful documents and data. We thank Chris Hansen and Moshe Buckinsky for very helpful conversations concerning the use of the synthetic control method to simultaneously examine two outcomes. We thank Shanna Rose for helpful comments.