Papers Under Review

• “Fiscal Illusion or Rational Choice? Long-term Effects of Earmarked Revenue on Property Tax Relief,” Zhirong Zhao and Changhoon Jung, submitted to Public Budgeting and Finance

• “Who gets ‘LOST’? Local Option Sales Taxes and Fiscal Disparities among Localities: Evidence from Georgia,” Zhirong Zhao and Yilin Hou, submitted to Public Budgeting and Finance

• “Determinants of Intergovernmental Cooperation in American Cities and Counties,” Changhoon Jung and Zhirong Zhao, submitted to International Review of Administrative Sciences

Recent Presentations

• "It Is the Perceived That Matters the Most: Property Tax Mimicking in Georgia Counties,” the annual conference of Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, Oct. 19-21, 2006, Atlanta, GA

• “Severe Storm Watch throughout Michigan: Financial Emergency Predictors,” Melanie Purcell and Zhirong Zhao, the annual conference of Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, Oct. 19-21, 2006, Atlanta, GA

• "Spatial Thinking in Public Affairs: Course Outline and Example Modules," the Workshop of Spatial Perspectives on Analysis for Curriculum Enhancement, Aug. 6, 2006, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

• "Applications of Spatial Analysis in Public Finance and Budgeting," the Workshop of Spatial Perspectives on Analysis for Curriculum Enhancement, Aug. 1, 2006, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

• “Management, Performance, and School District Bond Ratings: Evidence from Texas,” with Wenli Yan, the Second Conference on Empirical Studies of Organizations and Public Management (Organized by Kenneth Meier and Laurence O’Toole), May 5-6, 2006, College Station, TX

• “Tax Mimicking among Counties: The Georgia Case,” the annual conference of the Western Social Science Association, April 19-22, 2006, Phoenix, AZ

• “Who Gets ‘LOST’? Local Option Sales Taxes and Fiscal Disparity,” with Yilin Hou, annual conference of Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM), Nov. 10-12, 2005, Washington D.C.

• “What Determine Ratings of School District Bonds: The Texas Case,” with Wenli Yan, annual conference of Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM), Nov. 10-12, 2005, Washington D.C.

• “Fiscal Illusion or Rational Choice? The Effects of the General-Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) in Georgia Counties.” annual conference of the Public Finance and Budgeting Section of Western Social Science Association (WSSA), Apt. 13-16, 2005, Albuquerque, NM

• “Property Tax Burden, Fiscal Stress, or Tax Mimicking: The Adoption of General Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in Georgia Counties,” annual conference of Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM), Oct. 7-9, 2004, Chicago, IL

• “Motivations, Obstacles, and Resources: The Adoption of the General Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in Georgia Counties,” the Southeastern Conference for Public Administration (SECoPA), Oct. 3-5, 2004, Charlotte, NC

• “Morality Policy and Unintended Consequences: China’s ‘One Child’ Policy,” conference of the Southern Political Science Association Convention (SPSA), Nov. 7-9, 2002, Savannah, GA

Working Papers

• “Coveting Thy Neighbors’ Taxation: Property tax mimicking in Georgia counties,” Zhirong Zhao (To presented at the annual conference of National Tax Association, 2006)

•  “What Determine Ratings of School District Bonds: The Texas Case,” Dwight Denison, Wenli Yan, and Zhirong Zhao (Prepare for journal submission)

• “Local Option Income Taxes and Fiscal Disparities among Local Governments in Michigan,” Zhirong Zhao (Supported by Provost’s Research Award for New Faculty in Eastern Michigan University)