Infrastructure Finance & Policy Lab (iFPL)

iFPL Mission

The Core iFPL Mission Centers on Advancing Interdisciplinary Theories and Practices on Infrastructure Finance, Policy, and Governance:

• To Integrate and Advance Interdisciplinary Theories on Infrastructure-Related Issues

• To Develop and Promote Innovative, Efficient, and Effective Infrastructure Financing Practices

• To Promote and Advocate Sound Infrastructure Governance and Policies

• To Support Climate-Resilient, Sustainable, and Socially Equitable Infrastructure Development

iFPL Core Research Areas

The iFPL Focuses on Infrastructure Finance, Governance, Policy, and Sustainability Issues at the National and Sub-National levels (State, City, County, Special District), in Both Domestic and International Contexts, Utilizing Interdisciplinary Theories and a Variety of Empirical Techniques:

• Infrastructure Finance in Traditional and New Sectors (e.g., Transportation, Water, Utilities, Climate-Resilience, EV Charging Infrastructure)

• Infrastructure Governance & Policy

• Infrastructure Sustainability (Environmental, Economic Development, Fiscal Sustainability, and Social Equity)

• Capital Planning & Budgeting

• Infrastructure Performance and Asset Management

• Debt Financing 

• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

iFPL Research Team

• Dr. Can Chen (Associate Professor, Georgia State University)

• Dr. Boyuan Zhao (Assistant Professor, University of Macau)

• Seun Odibo (PhD Student, Georgia State University)

• Meghna Paul ( PhD Student, Georgia State University)

• Chaowang Ren (PhD Student, Georgia State University)

• Xianchen Hou ((PhD Student, Georgia State University)

• Yilun Zha (PhD Candidate, Georgia Institute of Technology)

• Yuxiang Zhao (Graduate Research Assistant, Georgia Institute of Technology)

iFPL Recent Funded Research Projects 

• A Causal Reexamination of the Fiscal Impact of Federally Capitalized State Infrastructure Banks on Leveraging State and Local Transportation Investment. The Center for the Study of Federalism (2024-Ongoing)

• State COVID-19 Tax Relief Policy. The Volcker Alliance (Completed in 2024).

• Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Finance. GSU Faculty Research Initiation Grant (Completed in 2023)

• Fiscal Impact of Local Government Relocation in China. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Completed in 2023)

• Accounting and Financial Reporting Practices for Capital Assets Impairment in U.S. State and Local Governments. Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Gil Crain Memorial Research Grant (Completed in 2022)

• Strategic Interaction in Urban Infrastructure Finance in China: A Spatial Econometric Analysis.  Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Completed in 2021)

• Infrastructure Financing: A Guide for Local Government Managers. International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) (Completed in 2018)

iFPL News and Activities

2022

• Dr. Can Chen was Invited as a Guest Speaker to Discuss Innovative Infrastructure Finance Practices for the Association of Governmental Accountants (AGA)-Atlanta Chapter on September 15, 2022.

• The 1st Lab Meeting was Held on September 19, 2022. iFPL is Very Happy to Have All of You on Board!

• Dr. Can Chen and Boyuan Zhao (Ph.D. Candidate) Presented Research "A Big-Data Approach to Map the Themes and Intellectual Structures of Transportation Finance Research" at the ABFM 2022 Conference on September 24, 2022 (Miami, FL)

• Dr. Can Chen Presented Research "The Causal Effects of Airport Governance Change on the Financial Performance of Airports" (Coauthored with Dr. Min Su and Dr. Bart Hildreth) at the ABFM 2022 Conference on September 24, 2022 (Miami, FL)

• The 2nd Lab Meeting was Held on September 30, 2022. The Core Lab Members—Meera, Meghna, and Seun Discussed the Assigned Reading Paper "The Impact of Infrastructure Investments on Income Inequality: Evidence from US States” by Hooper et al. (2021). Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 29(2), 227-256. 

• The 3rd Lab Meeting was Held on October 14, 2022. The Core Lab Members—Meera (the Lead Discussant), Meghna, and Seun Discussed the Assigned Reading Paper " Does Fiscal Decentralization Affect Infrastructure Quality? An Examination of US States” by Escaleras, M. and Calcagno, P. T. (2018). Journal of Contemporary Economic Policy, 36(2), 410-422.

• Dr. Can Chen was the leading instructor for GSU Center for State and Local Finance's Public Finance Executive Training on Treasury & Investment Management from October 19-21, 2022. Dr. Chen taught several topics related to cash flow management, investment policy and instruments, and short-term investment of public funds.

• Dr. Can Chen and Alex Hathaway (Senior Research Associate) in the GSU AYSPS’s Public Finance Research Cluster were recently awarded a $65,393 grant from the Volcker Alliance to Study State COVID-19 Tax Relief Policy. 

• The 4th Lab Meeting was Held on October 28, 2022. The Core Lab Members—Meghna (the Lead Discussant), Seun, and Meera Discussed the Assigned Reading Paper "Infrastructure Maintenance and Rural Economic Activity” by Ritam Chaurey and Duong Trung Le (2022). Journal of Public Economics. 

• Dr. Can Chen Presented Research "The Fiscal Effects of Hurricanes on Florida County Governments" at the APPAM 2022 Conference on November 18, 2022 (Washington, DC). 

• The 5th Lab Meeting was Held on November 21, 2022. The Core Lab Members—Seun (the Lead Discussant), Meghna, and Meera Discussed the Assigned Reading Paper "Political Budget Cycles and the Civil Service Reform” by David Bostahvili and Gergely Ujhelyi (2019). Journal of Public Economics. 

• Dr. Can Chen's New Book "Innovative Infrastructure Finance" was favorably reviewed by Dr. Martin Layer and Lauren Wargo from the Journal of Public Works Management and Policy (PWMP). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1087724X221145095. The authors highlight our book "provides a foundation for addressing these challenges and maximizing the ‘once in a generation’ funding opportunity for local government managers interested in exploring new ways of implementation and governance, as well as students looking for a primer on infrastructure finance and its practical applications".

• 2023

• 01/01/2023: Happy New Year to ALL! iFPL Wish You All Have a Healthy, Joyful, and Prosperous Year Ahead! iFPL Looks Forward to the Year 2023.

• 01/13/2023: Dr. Chen met with Jack Cebe (the Stitch Development Manager in Atlanta Downtown Improvement District) and discussed the potential partnerships about offering technical support to develop optimal infrastructure financing strategies for the Stitch Project. 

• 02/22-02/24/2023. Dr. Chen was the leading instructor for the GSU Center for State and Local Finance's Public Finance Executive Training on Capital Budgeting and Budget Preparation. Dr. Chen invited Dr. Carol Ebdon from the University of Nebraska Omaha as a guest speaker to discuss GFOA's Distinguished Budget Preparation Award Program.

•  02/27/2023. The Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Finance and Management--Dr. Komla Dzigbede appointed Dr. Chen as the Symposium Editor. Public Finance and Management is an international interdisciplinary journal devoted to increasing knowledge of public finance and administration through policy analysis, empirical research, and theoretical inquiry. https://pfm.spaef.org/index

• 03/15/2023. Dr. Chen was invited by Mr. Mark Funkhouser to join the editorial board for the International Center of Performance Auditing (ICPA). https://www.theicpa.org. Mark Funkhouser is a former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, and a former publisher of Governing 

• 04/13-14/2023. The three doctoral students at our lab: Meera Omar, Meghna Paul, Seun Odibo made their first conference presentations at the WSSA 2023 Conference (Public Budgeting and Finance Session) in Tempe, AZ. They presented topics on EV fee adoption, fiscal rule, political debt cycles, and legislative turnover and debt financing. Congrats!

• 04/21-22/2023. Dr. Chen was invited to attend the Public Finance Spring Conference 2023 held by the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

• 04/26/2023. Two doctoral students at our lab: Meera Omar and Meghna Paul co-represented a project report "State Tax Relief Measures During and After COVID-19" for the Fiscal Research Cluster's Brown Bag Seminar. Job is well done

• 05/09/2023. Dr. Chen coauthored with Dr. Bart Hildreth and Keith Jacob published an article " Why did states fail to take control over city-owned airports? A tale of three cities" in the Journal of Air Transport Management.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699723000662

•  06/01/2023. Dr. Chen was invited to attend the GPAL-National ACFR Database Project Meeting in Detroit, MI. He provided inputs on infrastructure assets accounting and reporting. 

• 08/23-08/25, 2023 Dr. Chen was the leading instructor for GSU Center for State and Local Finance's Public Finance Executive Training on Capital Budgeting and Budget Preparation. 

• 09/01/2023. Welcome new doctoral student--Chaowang Ren to join iFPL. Chaowang received his MPP degree from Georgia Tech. He is interested in infrastructure finance research. We are looking forward to working with Chaowang. 

• 09/15/2023. Dr. Can Chen's New Book "Innovative Infrastructure Finance" was favorably reviewed by Laiyang Ke from Public Finance and Management. https://pfm.spaef.org/article/2081/Review-of-Can-Chen-and-John-R-Bartle-Innovative-Infrastructure-Finance-A-Guide-for-State-and-Local-Governments

• 09/04/2023. Dr. Chen coauthored with two young and bright doctoral candidates-- Shiyang Xiao (Syracuse University) and Boyuan Zhao (Florida International University) published an article "Machine Learning Meets the Journal of Public Budgeting & Finance: Topics and Trends over 40 Years" in the Journal of Public Budgeting & Finance. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbaf.12348

• 09/29/2023. Dr. Chen co-chaired with Regents Professor Emeritus—Jorge Martinez-Vazquez on a one-day conference “Contemporary Challenges in Infrastructure Finance” which was hosted by the International Center for Public Policy (ICePP) at GSU. 

• 09/29/2023. Dr. Chen presented a co-authored paper with Dr. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez on “Fiscal Decentralization and Public Infrastructure Maintenance Expenditures: A Panel Cross-Country Analysis”. This paper is posted as a ICePP Working Papers Series now https://ideas.repec.org/p/ays/ispwps/paper2323.html

• 10/11/2023. Dr. Chen moderated the inaugural CUFE-GSU Public Finance Lecture Series. Dr. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez was invited to present his talk on “Adapting Fiscal Decentralization Design to Combat Climate Change”. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099040101252235219/pdf/P1725690f4590d06609b0808ead078df321.pdf

• 10/20-21/2023. Dr. Chen attended Tianjin Forum in China hosted by Nankai University. He made a presentation about urban governance for climate-resilient infrastructure.

• 10/26-28/ 2023. IFPL team (Dr. Chen, Meghna, Seun, and Meera) presented their working papers during the 2023 ABFM conference in Denver, Colorado.

• 10/28/2023. Congratulations to Meghna. She is the winner of the best poster paper award in the 2023 ABFM for her paper, “Legislative Turnover and State Government Debt Financing: A Panel Instrumental Variable Approach,” supervised by Dr. Chen. Meghna is the first GSU doctoral student for wining this competitive ABFM award. 

• 11/09/2023. Dr. Chen attended 2023 APPAM conference in Atlanta, GA. He is one of co-organizers for Chinese Policy Scholars Group. 

• 12/04/2023. Dr. Chen moderated the third CUFE-GSU Public Finance Lecture Series. Dr. Ross Rubenstein from GSU was invited to present his talk on “Education Finance and Policy in the US”.

• 12/10/2023. Dr. Chen was invited to review a MTI’s research report on “How will California’s Electric Vehicle Policy Impact State-Generated Transportation Revenues? Projecting Scenarios through 2040”

2024

• 01/01/2024: Happy New Year! IFPL, Go For 2024! 

• 10/01/2024. Dr. Chen was invited as a Research Associate of The China Research Center. https://www.chinacenter.net/about/