The Fiscal Case against Statehood

In The Fiscal Case against Statehood, Stephanie D. Moussalli investigates the territorial residents' fears that statehood will be expensive and examines the frontier development of government accounting practices. Moussalli analyzes financial reports from New Mexico and Arizona from the 1880s to the 1920s and finds a significant increase in the cost of government as well as an improvement in the governments' accountability for their use of the public purse.