Bonds on the Ballot: What Voters (Don't) Know About Debt Financing and Why It Matters
Abstract
ABSTRACT American subnational governments commonly require voters to approve bond proposals, reflecting historical concerns about legislative shortsightedness. Yet voters need an understanding of how bond financing works to make choices consistent with preferences. Existing literature makes it unclear whether voters have such knowledge. Using original survey data, we find only about half of voters can identify how bonds are financed. An experiment shows that simple cues can change voter preferences for using bonds or taxes. These findings cast doubt on whether bond elections reveal true preferences and suggest there may be better means to prevent poor bond decisions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Fiscal Policies and Political Economy
Global Financial Crisis and Policies
Local Government Finance and Decentralization
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Public Budgeting & Finance
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 27–39
- Publication date
- 9 February 2026
- Language
- EN