Recession Readiness in the Public Sector, Budget Stress Testing and Action Plans for Fiscal Sustainability

The Great Recession officially reached its trough nationally in June 2009. On the tenth anniversary of that milestone, the U.S. economy in June 2019 tied its record for the longest expansion phase since business cycles began to be tracked in the 1850s, at 120 months it is already more than twice as long as the 58.4 month average across the last 11 cycles since the end of World War II.

Although periods of economic expansion do not die of old age alone, history strongly suggests that it is now critical for state and local governments to be actively preparing for the next inevitable downturn.

What are the right moves to make to be ready for the next recession? We address that challenge from two different perspectives.