Border Wars: Tax Revenues, Annexation, and Urban Growth in Phoenix

Phoenix and neighboring municipalities, like many in the South and West, pursued a growth strategy based on annexation in the decades after World War II. This paper explores the link between annexation and competition for tax revenues. After discussing arguments for annexation, it traces the history of annexation in the Phoenix metropolitan area. A long-running series of "border wars" entailed litigation, pre-emptive annexations, and considerable intergovernmental conflict. The paper argues that tax revenues have been a key motivation for annexation, particularly since the 1970s. It then considers several related policy issues and argues that while opportunities for annexation are becoming more limited, competition for tax revenues (particularly sales tax revenues) continues to be fierce and to create dilemmas for municipalities in the region. JEL Categories: H71, H77, N92, R51annexation, municipal revenues, sales tax, Phoenix, urban growth, intergovernmental relations

Cyclical Indicators for the United States

Paper presented at the Third International Seminar on Early Warning and Business Cycle Indicators

Misc. Pub. 99-6

Sausages, one of the oldest forms of processed food, are a means of using and preserving animal trimmings. The hot dog is a specialized sausage. It originated in Germany where it was named “dachshund” sausage because it looked like the popular badger (dachs) hound (hund). The U.S. hot dog originated at the Polo Grounds in New York. Vendors hawked dachshund sausages in buns while a sports cartoonist sketched a barking dachshund nestled warmly in a bun. He labeled the cartoon “hot dog”. Today the hot dog enjoys popularity throughout the world

A diagnostic approach to obtaining planetary boundary layer winds using satellite-derived thermal data

The feasibility of using satellite derived thermal data to generate realistic synoptic scale winds within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is examined. Diagnostic modified Ekman wind equations from the Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC) Boundary Layer Model are used to compute winds at seven levels within the PBL transition layer (50 m to 1600 m AGL). Satellite derived winds based on 62 predawn TIROS-N soundings are compared to similarly derived wind fields based on 39 AVE-SESAME II rawinsonde (RAOB) soundings taken 2 h later. Actual wind fields are also used as a basis for comparison. Qualitative and statistical comparisons show that the Ekman winds from both sources are in very close agreement, with an average vector correlation coefficient of 0.815. Best results are obtained at 300 m AGL. Satellite winds tend to be slightly weaker than their RAOB counterparts and exhibit a greater degree of cross-isobaric flow. The modified Ekman winds show a significant improvement over geostrophic values at levels nearest the surface