What Matters Podcast: Infrastructure

How effective are gasoline taxes? How can governments decide which infrastructure projects to prioritize when technology is changing so rapidly? With the rise of scooters, why invest in a light rail system? What is “deferred infrastructure maintenance,” and why does it matter? In this podcast episode, Tracy Gordon, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, and William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance senior vice president and director of state and local initiatives, will discuss the answers to all these questions and more. 

What Matters Podcast: Rainy Day Funds

 
What are rainy day funds and why are they important? States now have a total of about $62 billion in their rainy day funds—triple what they had during the Great Recession—but is it enough? What is the "magic number" for the percent of the General Fund Revenue that should be deposited into the rainy day fund?  William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance senior vice president and director of state and local initiatives, discusses these questions and more with Richard Greene, special projects consultant for the Volcker Alliance, and Thad Calabrese, associate professor of public and nonprofit financial management and director of finance specialization, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.

What Matters Podcast: Workforce Development

 
How can we stimulate interest in government work among young people? How can we encourage low-income Americans to work towards careers in higher income brackets when doing so could mean they will actually lose more benefits than they'll gain? How can we harness technology to create a labor market that is adapted to the needs of the twenty-first century? In this podcast episode, Thomas W. Ross, president of the Volcker Alliance, and David E. Altig, executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, answer these questions and more.

What Matters Podcast: Budgetary Risks

 
How can states limit the amount of budgetary risks they build up? How can public and private sector work together to increase innovation and decrease budgetary stresses and risks? What role should the federal government play in setting standards to promote state budgetary best practices, encourage innovation, and increase coordination between states? In this podcast episode, William Glasgall, senior vice president and director of state and local initiatives, and Dennis Lockhart, distinguished professor-of-the-practice at Georgia Tech, discuss constraints on state budgets and offer recommendations for ways to ease budgetary stresses.