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The Money Behind the Curtain
Project type
Journal publication
Link
Overview
I was a co-author on this project studying Illinois’s special districts - local governments that manage billions in revenue and debt but often fly under the radar. I wrote the code, cleaned and merged the datasets, and carried out all of the statistical analysis that powered the findings. My work included developing and implementing a new 9-point system to assess fiscal health and producing the visualizations that made these results clear to policymakers and the public. The project exposed which districts are financially sound, which are stressed, and why stronger oversight is critical for accountability.
This study pulls back the curtain on Illinois’s special districts - little-known local governments that control billions in revenue and debt but often escape public scrutiny. By creating a new 9-point financial health system, we show which districts are fiscally sound, which are stressed, and why better monitoring is essential for accountability and transparency.
