The University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy is sponsoring and hosting a spring miniconference in College Park this April. This is part of the loose consortium of schools that have hosted in recent springs dating back to 2015 (University of Illinois-Chicago, Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School, Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs, and University of Illinois-Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs). The quality of presentations and discussion is very high, people really bring their best work. The conference is April 24-25, 2020 and proposals are due February 1, 2020. You can find the Call for Proposals below the line.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Public Finance Challenges in the New Decade
April 24-25, 2020
University of Maryland School of Public Policy
College Park, Maryland

The start of a new decade gives us an opportunity to look ahead and reflect on the challenges that will face us as a field, as a nation, and globally, between now and 2030. What challenges will characterize field of public finance and governments of the world in the 2020’s? Governments will continue to struggle with how to finance the delivery of public services, the appropriate role of different levels of government in delivering those services, fulfilling past promises, and evaluating how well we are meeting the demands of citizens. In addition, public service, and therefore public finance, will be increasingly defined by interactions between the various sectors—public, private and nonprofit—and innovative mechanisms that involve all of these sectors. Data and methods available for evaluation and forecasting will continue to advance as will technology for the public sector. We invite papers that focus on the broad challenges theme in the areas of public budgeting, taxation, municipal securities, public expenditure evaluation, fiscal federalism, financial management, organizational structure, and more.

We seek new, forward-looking papers that will encourage and push the debate about public finance in this new decade. We invite proposals for papers that examine these and other policy issues at the national and subnational levels in domestic and international contexts utilizing a variety of empirical techniques. Proposals will be reviewed and competitively selected.

Possible areas include, but are not limited to:

• Behavioral responses to taxation
• Use of big data and data analytics for public budgeting and finance
• Innovative methodologies in public sector evaluation and performance management
• Sorting out responsibilities among levels of government
• Municipal securities
• Contingent liabilities, such as pensions
• Nontraditional means of service delivery

Deadline for proposals: February 1, 2020

Proposals should include title, abstract, authors, and contact information for the submitting authors. Abstracts should not be longer than two pages. Accepted participants will be notified by March 1, 2020.

Participants may be asked to serve as discussants. Travel reimbursements will be available to cover the cost of travel (up to $600) and hotel expenses for one author per paper. Meals will be provided.

Proposals should be submitted to Dr. Philip Joyce at pgjoyce@umd.edu

Location & Schedule
The conference will take place at the College Park Marriott on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference will begin at 8:00 am on Friday, April 24th and will end at 1:30 pm on Saturday, April 25th. Registration, Hotel and Travel Information will be available in March 2020.

University of Maryland School of Public Policy
Situated in the nation’s capital at the crossroads where local and global issues intersect and where decision-makers address the world’s most pressing challenges, the University of Maryland School of Public Policy prepares students for careers advancing the public good across sectors. The School recently broke ground on a new building at the heart of campus, enabling our fast-growing community to continue impacting fields ranging from leadership and public management to sustainability to philanthropy and nonprofit. Drawing upon the strengths of a top-tier research university, the School of Public Policy brings cutting-edge science and technology developments into the public domain.