This book is based on lectures conducted for two classes at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University: a Public Finance Seminar for Ph.D. students in public administration and State and Local Public Finance for master's students in public administration. Topics covered include the role of voters in a federal system, the sorting of different households into different communities, the determinants of public service costs, the property tax and other sources of local (and state) revenue, fiscal aspects of economic development, and intergovernmental aid (especially for education).

The notes for the Ph.D. class also cover several more advanced topics, such as the estimation of education production and cost functions, the capitalization of school quality into house values, and tax competition among jurisdictions. The focus in these notes is on the highly decentralized federal system in the United States, but many of the principles and much of the behavioral analysis in the class apply to other countries as well. These notes draw on Professor John Yinger's extensive teaching experience and publication record in state and local public finance. They should prove useful to many teachers, scholars, and students who find topics in state and local public finance that they wish to pursue.