Lang (Kate) Yang

• Government budgeting 

• Government financial management

• Fiscal federalism

• Municipal bond market

Lang (Kate) Yang teaches public budgeting and finance and conducts research on state and local public finance and financial management. For recent research projects, Dr. Yang examines how states address local government fiscal stress through monitoring, intervention, and bankruptcy authorizations. Further, she explores the information asymmetry between state and local governments as well as in the municipal bond markets, and how it affects the design and functionality of fiscal institutions. Lastly, she studies the incentives and impediments to government financial reporting, disclosure, and transparency. She publishes in journals including Public Administration Review, National Tax Journal, Health Economics, Public Budgeting and Finance. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a program evaluation specialist for the Minnesota state legislature.

"Auditor or Adviser? Auditor (In)Dependence and Its Impact on Financial Management.” Public Administration Review, 2020.

"General Purpose Local Government Defaults: Type, Trend, and Impact." With Yulianti Abbas. Public Budgeting & Finance, 2020.

"Intergovernmental Costs of Political Gridlock: Local Government Cash Flow Smoothing during State Budgetary Delays." Public Finance Review, 2020.

"Not All State Authorizations for Municipal Bankruptcy are Equal: Impact of Bankruptcy Authorizations on State Primary Market Borrowing Costs." National Tax Journal, 2019.

"The impact of state intervention and bankruptcy authorization laws on local government deficits." Economics of Governance, 2019.    

"Negative Externality of Fiscal Problems: Dissecting the Contagion Effect of Municipal Bankruptcy." Public Administration Review, 2019.

"Providing Public Services without Relying Heavily on Government Funding: How do Nonprofits Respond to Government Budget Cuts?” With Yuan Cheng. American Review of Public Administration, 2018.

"Financial Management Conservatism under Constraints: Tax and Expenditure Limits and Local Deficit Financing during the Great Recession." Local Government Studies, 2017.

“Responsiveness of Income to Local Income Taxes: Evidence from Indiana,” with Bradley T. Heim, National Tax Journal, 2017

"The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Self-Employment," with Bradley T. Heim, Health Economics, 2017

"Indiana's Property Tax Caps: Old Idea, New Approach, and Surprising Incentives," with Justin Ross and Madeline Farrell, Public Budgeting and Finance, 2015

• Travelling
• Playing badminton
• Attempting to raise a trilingual child