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Abstract: 

This issue and Volume 34 Number 1 of the Municipal Finance Journal are dedicated to the late John E. Petersen, a highly regarded expert on municipal finance and the municipal bond market. The articles in this two-part series pay tribute to John by examining topics that were germane to his career and by discussing John’s significant contributions to the field of municipal finance. Volume 33 Number 4 includes, in addition to four research papers (available as individual downloads) two overview artcles that provide an introduction to John’s professional career and accomplishments. “John Petersen: Modern Renaissance Man” surveys his contributions to tax-exempt financing theory and practice, state and local government financial management, and international government finance. The next section, “Personal Reflections,” includes a series of short essays about John by former employees, professional colleagues, public officials, and his son. These reflections portray John not only as the “dean of the municipal market” but also as a friend and colleague who had a significant impact on individuals through his writings, teaching, and leadership. Readers are then given the opportunity to view John’s work firsthand. In “Municipal Defaults: Eighty Years Make a Big Difference,” John presents a historical review of municipal bond defaults in the Great Depression, along with an analysis of how the conditions during the recent Great Recession were different from the conditions during the Great Depression. John circulated this paper to some of his peers in 2011, but it is published for the first time in this issue. The next group of papers addresses issues related to the municipal debt market. Robert Dean Pope provides a history of the Disclosure Guidelines for State and Local Government Securities and John’s central role in their development; Natalie R. Cohen analyzes the growth, subsequent decline, and possible resurrection of municipal bond insurance; and Frank Shafroth, examines the role John played in creating a foundation for today’s municipal market. Part 2 of this double issue series, Volume 34, Number 1, addresses state and local government financial management. James E. Spiotto describes state roles in local government financial management and the mechanisms used to assist and provide oversight to municipalities. Drawing largely from the work of John and his colleagues in the recently published Oxford Handbook of State and Local Finance, Robert Ebel and Ha Vu address the impacts and implications of the Great Recession for state and local finance. Paul Zorn examines recent legislative changes to public pension benefits and the resulting legal challenges. The final paper, written by Maria (Mila) Freire, focuses on international municipal finance, another area in which John made a major contribution. Freire reviews recent developments in subnational finance outside the United States, highlighting the impact of the recent fiscal crisis on local governments’ spending and debt.

Keywords: John Petersen; public finance; disclosure; bond insurance; bond markets

Affiliations:  1: University of Illinois Springfield; 2: NACo Financial Services Corporation ; 3: The Spain Group LLC.