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This article outlines Ireland’s system of local government finance using a conceptual framework drawn from the fiscal federalism and municipal finance literature. Commonly referred to as the four pillars of intergovernmental fiscal relations, the four pillars are expenditure assignment, revenue assignment, intergovernmental transfers and local borrowing. After presenting the economic case for local government based on the decentralisation of the allocative function of the public sector, the theory underlying each of the four building blocks is outlined and applied to local public finance in Ireland. Differences between theory and practice are evident, as are differences with practices in other countries, confirming the no-onesize-fits-all approach to intergovernmental finance and fiscal decentralisation. Future reforms in the area of local government finance in Ireland should be cognisant of this framework and the good principles of public finance that follow, in addition to the historical, institutional, and political factors that also determine practices and outcomes.

Education for sustainable development poses high challenges to governments and public finance. Compared with OECD countries, China’s local governments bear too much expenditure responsibilities with respect to compulsory education, which theoretically affects the high-quality equity of compulsory education. Through empirical analysis using cross-country data with the panel spatial model, it is found that the proportion of central government expenditure and the government’s educational effort both have a steady and negative impact on the regional variable coefficient of compulsory education completion rate. Unitary or federal regime does not have a significant impact on the result. This paper suggests establishing a sharing financing system among all levels of government. According to the minimum standard guarantee principle of basic public services, the central government, which has the strongest fiscal capacity, should establish the national standard and take the responsibility on coordinating and balancing education service among regions and promoting the inter-regional equity. Local governments are encouraged to provide education services above national standard in accordance with their fiscal capacities.

The study overviews the most relevant, current intergovernmental fiscal issues in the Czech Republic, centered on the options available to prod policy planning. Fragmentation at the lowest tier of government is the most striking feature of the administrative structure. This suggests a strategic direction for further administrative reforms to sustain fiscal decentralization, which includes empowering territorial self-governing units; establishing a multilevel government coordinating body to define autonomous functions on expenditures, and revenues; and by creating financial and legal incentives to facilitate an asymmetric assignment of revenue and expenditure. Specific policy actions should include institutional inter-governmental cooperation and dialogue through a broad based commission to recommend regional expenditures, and the Budget Rules Law should be amended to preempt unfounded mandates to local governments. Revenue autonomy should be boosted by increasing predictability of local budgets, restoring tax-effort incentives, and reviewing the adopted adjustment coefficient for tax-sharing distribution; while a rationalized transfer system should focus on decreasing the number of specific subsidies, and prioritizing programs to stabilize transfers within a medium-term expenditure framework. Institutional framework and prudential rules would ensure fiscally responsible borrowing, and encourage a competitive financial market.

This book provides a new institutional economics perspective on alternative models of local governance, offering a comprehensive view of local government organization and finance in the developing world. The experiences of ten developing/transition economies are reviewed to draw lessons of general interest in strengthening responsive, responsible, and accountable local governance. The book is written in simple user friendly language to facilitate a wider readership by policy makers and practitioners in addition to students and scholars of public finance, economics and politics.

In the past half century, fiscal decentralization has emerged as a critical policy issue among public finance scholars and policymakers around the world. Since 2001, Ethiopia has practiced fiscal decentralization at the district level by devolving certain functions and financial resources for the District Administration. The primary goal of this paper was to assess fiscal decentralization practices at the district level, as well as the challenges that local level authorities faced while implementing it. The paper focused on the intergovernmental fiscal relationship between the Regional and Local Governments (LG) of Oromia (representing the relatively \"developed regions\") and Afar (representing the \"emerging regions\") Regional States. We selected these regional states, not randomly, but purposively using various criteria such as fiscal capacity, population size and geographical area/distance, and infrastructure and human development. We used both primary (in-depth interviews and field observations) and secondary (published and unpublished sources) data. The key informants for in-depth interview and discussions were selected purposively from regional and Woreda institutions on the basis of their levels of knowledge on the subject under investigation while, the secondary data were analyzed and interpreted through a descriptive technique and presented in form of tables and figures in light of the study's objective. The major findings show that the regional governments' devolution of expenditure responsibility to the LGs is not accompanied by adequate financial resources, resulting in high vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances in Ethiopia. As a result, LGs rely heavily on regional blocked grants to cover the costs of the functions devolved to them by regional governments. This, in turn, limits local governments' fiscal autonomy and leads to less efficiency in public service delivery and accountability at the local level. This necessitates increasing LGs' fiscal autonomy by devolving taxation authority in order to reap the potential benefits of effective fiscal decentralization system at the sub-national and national levels.

This book addresses a variety of issues relating to intergovernmental finance and the provision and financing of local services including budgeting and financial management, the institutional framework for the conduct of intergovernmental relations, appropriate methods of service delivery in metropolitan agglomerations and remote rural areas, local government enterprises, user charges, property taxes, income and value-added taxes, natural resource taxes, and local business taxes. Throughout, the authors draw on experience both in Canada and in other decentralized countries and consider to varying extents the special problems facing Russia and other large transitional economies.

Since 1980, China's economy has been the envy of the world. Is annual growth rate of more than 9 percent during this period makes China today the world's fourth-largest economy. And this sustained growth has reduced the poverty rate from 60 percent of the population to less than 10 percent. However, such rapid growth has also increased inequalities in income and access to basic services and stressed natural resources. The government seeks to resolve these and other issues by creating a 'harmonious society' -- shifting priorities from the overriding pursuit of growth to more balanced economic and social development. This volume compiles analyses and insights from high-level Chinese policy makers and prominent international scholars that address the changes needed in public finance for success in the government's new endeavor. It examines such key policy issues as public finance and the changing role of the state; fiscal reform and revenue and expenditure assignments; intergovernmental relations and fiscal transfers; and financing and delivery of basic public goods such as compulsory education, innovation, public health, and social protection. And it offers concrete recommendations for immediate policy changes and for China's future reform agenda. 'Public Finance in China' is a must-read for specialists in public finance and for those seeking an understanding of the complex and daunting challenges China is facing.

The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) assessed the effectiveness of Bank support for decentralization between fiscal 1990 and 2007 in 20 countries, seeking to inform the design and implementation of future support. Given the difficulties of measuring the results of decentralization, the evaluation used intermediate outcome indicators—such as strengthened legal and regulatory frameworks for intergovernmental relations, improved administrative capacity, and increased accountability of sub national governments and functionaries to higher levels of government and to citizens—to assess the results of Bank support in these 20 countries. To examine potential lessons at a sectoral level, the evaluation also assessed whether Bank support for decentralization improved intermediate outcomes for service delivery in the education sector in 6 of the 20 countries.

The exposition is based on an analytical framework covering all ?building blocks? of fiscal federalism: size and structure of jurisdictions, expenditures, revenues, transfers, and borrowing. The application of this framework to Russian settings results in a comprehensive assessment of the state of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Russia.