The Public Finance and Economic Development Program has been a fixture of IGPA’s activity for two decades. The Program’s goal is to provide policy research on major state and local public finance and economic development issues, with emphasis on the state of Illinois.

The faculty and fellows with expertise in this Program do both scholarly investigations of questions important to the state and region and more applied work designed to provide evidence and possible solutions for policymakers and the state’s citizens.

Faculty and fellows in the Public Finance Program work with various governmental units and non-governmental organizations to provide research and analysis of public-finance questions. They also evaluate and make recommendations concerning major issues and programs, such as state-level tax and budget questions, local taxation issues and regulatory issues such as zoning and impact fees.

The Public Finance and Economic Development Program is home to the University of Illinois Flash Index, a monthly index of the state’s economic condition, and the Illinois Economic Review, an analysis of Illinois’ employment and economic picture relative to its Midwest neighbors.