Examining the interplay between federal funding and state charter schools, focusing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and how competition in education could reform financing and outcomes.

New Jersey entered the current recession in a weakened fiscal and economic condition. The current recession is severe, but this fiscal dilemma is not new. The state has experienced structural deficits regularly over the past 20 years. This paper presents a series of reforms based on the successful experience of other governments. It begins with a background discussion of the challenges New Jersey will face in implementing these reforms by reviewing the state of the state and the loss of the “Old-Time Fiscal Religion,” the foundation of public finance until the Keynesian revolution of the 1940s. The paper explains the limits of public policy and government intervention and explores the importance of inter-jurisdictional competition and direct democracy, concluding with recommendations for institutional and policy reforms.

This Mercatus Policy Series recommends that land owners form their own private organization—such as a collective neighborhood bargaining association (CNBA)—to negotiate with land developers. The creation of such a process, which would require state or local legislative action, would facilitate better planned, more efficient, and more equitable development of American land areas.

While America’s infrastructure may indeed need improvement, public spending is not the best way to fix it. Our infrastructure needs more than just a physical overhaul. It needs to move from an outmoded model of government provision to a system that permits and encourages innovation and flexibility.