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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What the Great Depression Tells Us About How the Coronavirus Could Impact Municipal Bonds
Sharp revenue declines could soon force governments to make uncomfortable choices between public services, public employees, retirees, and bondholders.
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California Gov. Newsom’s Coronavirus Task Force and Plan to Reopen the Economy Fall Short
It’s worrying that rather than setting simple steps and metrics to open parts of the economy, Newsom has announced an unwieldy, 80-member coronavirus task force.
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States Want Federal Assistance for Debt-Riddled Public Pension Plans
Many public pensions systems were facing financial crises before the pandemic and subsequent market crash and a poorly-conceived taxpayer-funded bailout now would not set them on a path to sustainability.
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As the Economic Downturn Hits State Budgets, California’s High-Speed Rail Project Should Be Canceled
In light of the economic fallout caused by COVID-19, shutting down or scaling back the high-speed rail project should not be a difficult decision.
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Rating California Counties On the Thoroughness of Their COVID-19 Data Dashboards
In terms of providing quality information that researchers, hospitals, public health officials, and taxpayers would find the most useful, the best portals are offered by San Diego, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties.
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COVID-19’s Negative Impact on Public Pension Systems
In March, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) reported asset value was $35 billion below where it was in June 2019.
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Immigration Rules Block Thousands of Qualified Doctors and Nurses From Helping the US Fight COVID-19
“There are upwards of 15,000 qualified overseas nurses who have passed background checks and US licensure and English language proficiency tests but cannot get their visas processed.”
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How Data Transparency Can Help Fight COVID-19
To help make better-informed decisions about coronavirus, governments should be publishing comprehensive, machine-readable data sets.
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COVID-19 Market Volatility Adds New Intensity to the US Virgin Islands’ Pension Crisis
The Virgin Islands is no more than a few years away from being unable to pay benefits to retired pensioners.
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California State Auditor Found El Cerrito at High-Risk of Financial Distress — Before COVID-19
The economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic is likely to put pressure on the city to get its finances in order or potentially face Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
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State Aid in Coronavirus Stimulus Spending Bill Greatly Favors Low Population States
Wyoming is slated to receive $2,160 per capita while New York and Washington state, two of the states that have been hit most heavily by the coronavirus pandemic, look like they'll receive just $389 per capita.
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Coronavirus May Deliver the Final Blow to Overrated Commercial Real Estate Deals
More than half of the mortgages in CMBS deals are on offices, hotels and retail buildings— three categories especially hard hit by shelter-in-place orders issued during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Mass Transit Stimulus Spending Should Be Limited to Providing Operations, Focus on Transit-Dependent Riders
Federal lawmakers should specify a ceiling for total stimulus aid and provide monthly payments based on a calculation of the passenger revenue lost and the extra cleaning costs incurred by each system.
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Coronavirus and Shelter-in-Place Order Puts Bay Area Rapid Transit System in Financial Jeopardy
Ridership was already declining and now the government shelter-in-place order is slashing BART's revenues and threatening its bond ratings.
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Opaque Alternative Investments Add Uncertainty to Public Pension Fund Reporting
The reliance on assumptions and judgments for these alternative investments can result in large discrepancies between valuation estimates and true value.
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Telecommuting Is Helping Fight COVID-19 and Can Help Companies and Cities Over the Long-Term
A long-term increase in telecommuting could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also reducing government spending on infrastructure.
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On the California Ballot: A $15 Billion School Bond, Plus Another $17 Billion in Borrowing at the Local Level
California's school and community college districts issued $125 billion in general obligation bonds from 1984 to 2019.
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Why Andrew Yang and Elon Musk Are Wrong About the Urgent Need for Universal Basic Income
Just as the industrial revolution simultaneously eliminated agricultural jobs and created factory jobs, future economic transformations may well create new occupations we have yet to imagine.
