The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and State Accountability

Abstract

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) channeled billions of dollars through the states in an effort to stimulate the economy and shore up faltering state services. It presented unprecedented accountability expectations in the form of required state transparency with regard to ARRA expenditures. This study examines the variations in state responses to ARRA accountability expectations and analyzes state characteristics associated with greater accountability efforts. There is considerable variability in state ARRA accountability reporting but no apparent underlying pattern to the variability, which seems to be largely unaffected by political or other characteristics of the states. The study reveals that most states could have done a much better job of informing their citizens about how ARRA funds were spent and what was accomplished with those funds.