Flushed Away: Jefferson County, Alabama’s Sewer Debt Crisis

Abstract:     
Kleptocracy is a term used to describe “[a] government characterized by rampant greed and corruption,” American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed. 2000). To that definition dictionaries might add, as a helpful illustration: “See, for example, Alabama’s Jefferson County Commission in the period from 1998 to 2008.” Judge Edward Carnes, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Keywords: Municipal bankruptcy, Kleptocracy, Debt Crisis, Downgrade

Accepted Paper Series