Phone:

317-274-4177

Email:

cbuerge@iu.edu

Areas of expertise:

Public Finance

Public Policy

Christian Buerger is an Assistant Professor at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI. His research focuses on topics in program evaluation, public management, and public finance.

His current projects examine the effects of recessions on state budgets, including cutback management strategies and the use of fiscal reserves. He also investigates where charter schools locate, how they influence the cost and efficiency of providing education, and in which manner they change school districts spending levels and patterns. Further projects are concerned with policy interactions when it comes to the provision of public services.

• Ph.D., Public Administration/Policy, University of Syracuse, 2014
• M.P.A., Public Administration, University of Connecticut, 2005
• Diploma, Public Administration, University of Potsdam (Germany), 2004

• "The Political Cycle in Traffic Fines Revenue," (with S. Min) American Journal of Political Science. (2023). (Conditional acceptance)
• "Plugging the Tax Leak: An Analysis of North Carolina’s Local Sales Tax Redistribution Policy," (with W. B. Afonso and A. Combs) State and Local Government Review. (2023). (Accepted)
• "The Interplay Between Fiscal Institutions and the Great Recession: Evidence From US School Districts," (with M.L. Lofton) AERA Open, 9 (1), 1–22. (2023)
• "How context shapes the relationship between school autonomy and test-scores. An explanatory analysis using PISA 2015," (with J.A. Lincove and C. Mata) International Journal of Educational Development. (2023). (Forthcoming)
• “State Fiscal Reserves: Supplementation and Substitution over Economic Boom and Bust Years,” (with V. Reitano and C. Sorrentino) Public Budgeting & Finance, 42, 98–118. (2022) 
• “Extending Differences-in-Differences Frameworks to Granger Equations: Evidence from Cutback Management during Three Recessions,” (with R.M. Sandel, V. Reitano, M.L. Lofton, and P. Jones) International Journal of Public Sector Management, 34(6), 688–705. (2021)
• “Test-Based Accountability and the Effectiveness of School Finance Reforms,” (with S.H. Lee and J. Singleton) AEA Papers and Proceedings (2021)
• “The Effect of Economic Downturns on State Budgets: A Counterfactual Analysis of the Great Recession.” Applied Economics Letters (2020)
• “The Impact of Government Contracting Out on Spending: The Case of Public Education in New Orleans.” (with D. Harris) The American Review of Public Administration (2020)
• “The Influence of Finance Policies on Charter School Supply Decisions in Five States.” Public Budgeting & Finance (2020)
• “Fiscal Shocks, Budgetary Pressures, and Public Education Expenditure Stabilization.” (with P. Jones and V. Reitano) International Journal of Public Administration (2020)
• “The Effect of Charter Schools on District Efficiency: The Case of New York State.” (with R. Bifulco) Economics of Education Review (2019)
• “The Influence of Finance and Accountability Policies on the Location of New York State Charter Schools.” (with R. Bifulco) Journal of Education Finance (2015)
• “How Can Decentralized Systems Solve System-Level Problems? An Analysis of Market-Driven New Orleans School Reforms.” (with D. Harris) American Behavioral Scientist (2015)
• “The Transformation of New Orleans Public Schools: Addressing System-Level Problems without a System.” (with A. Perry, D. Harris, V. Mack) The New Orleans Index at Ten. The Data Center - Brookings. (2015)
• “Revenue Volatility in New York State School Districts: Challenges and Responses.” (with R. Bifulco) Local Government Budget Stabilization (2015)
• “Intergroup Relations in Integrated Schools: A Glimpse Inside Interdistrict Magnet Schools.” (with R. Bifulco, C. Cobb) Education Policy Analysis Archives (2012)

• “The interconnectedness of school-finance reforms and test-based accountability,” Fordham Institute (2020)
• “Analysis: Costlier bureaucracy working, but future unclear,”  Washington Times (2017)
• “Study says New Orleans schools spend more on administration and less on teaching after charter transformation,” Hetchinger Report (2017) 
• “In New Orleans, charter schools spend more on chiefs and less on classrooms, study finds,” The New Orleans Advocate (2017)
• “More money for top staff, less in the classroom since Katrina, study finds,” The Times-Picayune (2017)