The Pew Charitable Trusts illuminates states’ fiscal challenges through research, including comprehensive 50-state assessments. In these assessments we rate the states on their performance, highlighting effective approaches and creating pressure for reform. Our team uses its expertise to examine the three key areas of state finances—revenues, expenditures, and borrowing. Our goal is to provide data, analysis, and guidance to help states recover in the short term and maintain fiscal sustainability in the long term.
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RESEARCH from the Project
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- Issue Brief
- States' Fiscal Health
Public Attitudes on Pension Reform in Kentucky
Recent polling indicates that Kentucky voters favor moving to a new retirement system for future public employees. Large majorities favor specific reform proposals, including the core provisions that would comprise a new retirement system. more
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January 16, 2013
A Widening Gap in Cities
A number of the nation’s key cities face unpaid bills for the retirement benefits they have promised their employees. This report examines pension and retiree health care funding in 61 cities—the most populous one in each state plus all others with populations over 500,000—and looks at options for reform.
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- Featured Collection
- States' Fiscal Health
State Tax Incentives for Economic Development
This collection of research highlights steps that states can take to create fiscally sound state tax incentives and to determine whether existing incentives are generating solid economic returns.
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- Issue Brief
- States' Fiscal Health
Kentucky's Pension Challenges
Pension problems, such as those in Kentucky, are rooted in simple math, rather than in political ideology. more
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June 18, 2012
The Widening Gap Update
The gap between the promises states have made for public employees’ retirement benefits and the money they have set aside to pay these bills was at least $1.38 trillion in fiscal year 2010, according to Pew's latest comprehensive analysis on pension and retiree health care funding. more
