Marc Joffe
Senior Policy Analyst
Marc Joffe is a senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
After a long career in the financial industry, including a senior director role at Moody's Analytics, Joffe's research focuses on municipal finances, alternative asset investments, transportation policy and federal, state and local fiscal policy.
His financial research has been published by the California State Treasurer's Office, UC Berkeley, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, California Policy Center, The Center for Municipal Finance, and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute among others.
Joffe is a regular contributor to The Orange County Register and his op-eds have also appeared in The Fiscal Times, Governing, National Review, The Hill, and The San Jose Mercury News.
Joffe recently presented a panel paper at the APPAM 42nd Annual Fall Research Conference along with University of Texas, Dallas Associate Professor Evgenia Gorina and his Reason colleagues Anil Niraula and Jen Sidorova.
He has an MBA from New York University and an MPA from San Francisco State University.
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The risks of issuing pension obligation bonds are rising with inflation, interest rates
Governments considering pension obligation bonds should carefully evaluate the costs, risks, and potential rewards before issuing these securities.
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The University of Michigan moves to modernize government financial reporting
XBRL can make data from state and local governments more digestible and publicly available.
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Government failures, not privatization, are to blame for Flint’s water crisis
Public and private water providers can improve their procedures to avoid such terrible consequences in the future.
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California should embrace large-scale water desalination projects
California shouldn’t be rejecting a sustainable opportunity to buy water for a penny per gallon.
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Municipal water systems show wide variations in quality and financial results
The accompanying map shows data for over 900 city- and county-owned water providers across the United States.
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Proxy battles are usually an inefficient use of public pension systems’ resources
Public pension funds should prioritize maximizing risk-adjusted returns with as little wasted effort as possible.
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The true depths of the U.S. debt crisis
The massive federal debt accumulation is going to force extremely tough political and policy choices in the coming decades.
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California community colleges are losing students
If students don’t return soon, community colleges will face a financial crisis.
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California’s high-speed rail line will share track with commuter rail, slowing trains and increasing accident risks
Sharing track with commuter rail means that the service billed as high-speed rail will run more slowly than originally promised to voters and that high-speed trains will run through grade-level railroad crossings.
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California should learn from past mistakes made with unfunded pension benefit increases
California Senate Bill 868 could negatively impact the financial health of California’s State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS).
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t a good reason for the U.S. to further increase defense spending
The massive defense budget is one prime place to start cutting federal spending and acting responsibly.
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Local governments in California lost $20 million running public golf courses in 2020
The largest operating loss, over $4 million, was recorded by the Indian Wells Golf Resort, owned by the city of Indian Wells.
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155 local governments across the U.S. lost a total of $61 million operating public golf courses in 2020
In a review of 221 public golf courses, 155 lost money, including five that lost more than $2 million in 2020.
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As student enrollment declines, California’s school districts should right-size their spending
Instead of waiting for the next economic downturn to force them to make spending cuts, school districts should use this moment to right-size benefits and reduce non-instructional expenses.
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Inflation could significantly raise costs for some public pension systems
Most public retirement systems have established policies to limit annual cost spikes from cost-of-living adjustments during inflationary periods.
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Class action lawsuits against CUSIP could improve government transparency
In the case of CUSIP numbers, a strong intellectual property claim hinders our ability to monitor state and local debt.
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The broken federal budget process gets even worse with $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill
With the last major federal budget reform now 50 years behind us, and after 20 consecutive years of federal budget deficits, the congressional budget process obviously needs an overhaul.
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California is using outdated high-speed rail ridership estimates
As state legislators decide whether to issue another $4 billion of bullet train bonds this spring, they should have the best and most recent possible information to make informed decisions.
