Explore the vast range of titles available.

There are legal requirements for a bank to be officially listed on the Vietnam stock exchange; hence by the end of 2020, Vietnam's banking industry had 43% of banks officially listed on the stock exchange and 57% of banks not officially listed. Accordingly, the difference between these two groups of banks is clear. This study aims to find empirical evidence for a one-way relationship between corporate social responsibility expenditure (CSRE) and the financial performance of Vietnamese commercial banks. In addition, the study also looks for the influence of each component of CSRE, including Community, Government, and Employee Responsibility, on the financial performance of listed and unlisted banks. Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) controlling for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, and endogeneity effects, the research results of the study show that CSRE as a cost reduces the bank's financial efficiency; however, social responsibility spending with the community is a positive factor that increases the bank's financial efficiency through creating an image and good impression with society and customers. Especially significantly stronger for commercial banks that have been officially listed on the stock exchange. Research results show the need to strengthen CSR implementation in the banking industry.

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 Austrian government is about to introduce a new fiscal management framework. The first step is to introduce a medium-term budgetary framework, including an expenditure rule. The paper focuses on this first step. The purpose is to describe and evaluate the Austrian model in light of other countries' experiences with their frameworks. An attempt is made to identify features that have proven to be effective elsewhere and that can be applied to the Austrian case. The paper also identifies potential challenges and possible trade-offs when implementing the framework.

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.

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 financial systems of the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) are at a crucial juncture. After a history of recurrent instability and crisis (a trademark of the region), they now seem well poised for rapid expansion. Since the last wave of financial crises that swept through the region in the late 1990s and early 2000s, financial systems in LAC have continued to gain in soundness, depth, and diversity. The size of banking systems has increased, albeit from a low base; local currency bond markets have greatly developed, both in volumes and in reach over the yield curve; stock markets have expanded; and derivative markets particularly currency derivatives have grown and multiplied. Institutional investors have become more important relative to banks, making the financial system more complex and diversified. Importantly, much progress has been made in financial inclusion, particularly through the expansion of payments, savings, and credit services to lower income households and microenterprises. As evidence of their new soundness and resiliency, financial systems in the region, except in some Caribbean countries, weathered the recent global financial crisis remarkably well. The progress in financial development in LAC no doubt reflects substantial improvements in the enabling environment, lower macroeconomic volatility, more independent and better-anchored currencies, increased financial liberalization, lower currency mismatches and foreign debt exposures, enhanced effectiveness of regulation and supervision, and notable improvements in the underlying market infrastructures (for example, trading, payments, custody, clearing, and settlement). This regional flagship report aims at providing such a stocktaking and forward looking assessment of the region's financial development. Rather than going into detail about sector-specific issues, the report focuses on the main architectural issues, overall perspectives, and interconnections. The value added of the report thus hinges on its holistic view of the development process, its broad coverage of the financial services industry (not just banking), its emphasis on benchmarking, its systemic perspective, and its explicit effort to incorporate the lessons from the recent global financial crisis.

This paper analyzes the extent to which the degree of international economic integration, both financial and trade, affects corporate tax rates. It explores this issue in the context of strategic behavior by countries, taking into account other global and domestic political economy factors. Tax rates are analyzed using a unique tax dataset for advanced and developing economies extending over five decades. We report a number of novel results: there is no general negative relationship between financial globalization and corporate tax rates and revenues-results vary according to country grouping with OECD countries showing a positive relationship; the United States exhibits a \"Stackelberg\" type of leadership on other countries; trade integration is inversely correlated with tax rates; and public sentiment and ideology affect tax rates. The policy implications of these findings, particularly given budgetary pressures in the aftermath of the global crisis, are noted.

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.