I haven’t read it yet and am posting this so I don’t lose the link as much as anything else. Ronald Snell, working for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has put out a paper entitled State Finance in the Great Depression (pdf). State spending increased during this period, though as a percentage of total government domestic spending, decreased as the federal government expanded dramatically.
I’ll be interested to hear others’ opinions on this.
I wasn’t impressed with his argument, the piece’s organization, or his critical review of teh material provided.