Budget Stress Tests Help State Leaders Identify and Assess Risk

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Projects: State Fiscal Health
Budget Stress Tests Help State Leaders Identify and Assess Risk

In a memo to Colorado’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, experts from The Pew Charitable Trusts explain how budget stress tests—which examine the impact of various economic scenarios on revenues and expenditures—help states identify their risk from adverse events such as economic downturns. The memo, sent Aug. 20, 2021, outlines how states can design budget stress tests, how such tests can inform policy, and how other states have employed this fiscal tool.

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Economic Downturns: Protecting State and Local Budgets

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In particularly challenging times, when revenue is volatile and priorities may need to be reassessed, it is important that lawmakers manage budgets effectively to mitigate fiscal stress.

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Report June 14, 2018

State Strategies for Maintaining a Balanced Budget

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Report June 14, 2018

Many states ended 2017 flush with unexpected cash. Federal legislation that caps some tax deductions beginning in 2018 prompted many Americans to prepay their state and local taxes. While this surprise revenue was positive news for state budgets, several policymakers struck a cautious tone.

Downloads Budget Stress Tests Help State Leaders Identify and Assess Risk (PDF)
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Jeff Chapman
Jeff Chapman Director
State Fiscal Health
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Street map art, three prints in blue, white and black
Report February 2, 2021

States Can Direct Economic Development to Places in Need

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Street map art, three prints in blue, white and black
Report February 2, 2021

Data from an array of sources has shown that Americans who grow up in economically distressed areas experience lower-performing schools, higher crime rates, a variety of health and environmental hazards, and less upward mobility.

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