Edward Elgar Publishing Intergovernmental Transfers in Federations (Studies in Fiscal Federalism and State-local Finance series)

In a multi-level government system institutional legacy and the assignment of roles and responsibilities between the federal and the subnational governments create imbalances. These imbalances in economic terms are a result of a mismatch between revenue-raising capacity and the spending responsibilities of the different levels of the government. Intergovernmental Transfers in Federations presents a synthesis of recent international experience of large federations in addressing the most fundamental issues of horizontal and vertical imbalances through the prism of intergovernmental transfers. It compares mature federal systems and the maturing federations of the world. Contributors delve into the various aspects of policymaking as well as policy choices in selecting an efficiency path for a meaningful fiscal devolution aimed at integrating performance and incentives to reach an expenditure mix that facilitates better service delivery. Chapters include empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions as well as case studies that illustrate important policy or methodological lessons for future work. This collection is essential reading for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and students wishing to understand the choices made by different countries in response to the overarching principles of needs, equity and efficiency for sharing of resources. Review 'Scholars and practitioners alike will find this comprehensive volume invaluable. The analytical framework and the accompanying country case studies provide constructive insights and lessons on how to successfully design and implement intergovernmental transfers within federal countries. Definitely a book that will help shape future central-local fiscal systems.' --Roy Kelly, Duke University, US 'This excellent volume brings together most of the world's leading experts on intergovernmental fiscal relations. They provide important contributions to both the conceptual and practical literature on the design of intergovernmental transfers. Building on three insightful discussions of the principles of effective transfer design, the volume contains a dozen in-depth descriptions and critical analyses of grant systems in mature federations, evolving federations, and multi-level unitary governments. Policymakers, scholars, and students will all profit from the lessons about the design of intergovernmental transfers provided in this timely volume.' --Andrew Reschovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US 'When it comes to designing intergovernmental transfers in a federation, there is no one model that stands above the rest. This book clearly illustrates this point with case studies from ten mature and maturing federations, written by leading scholars. Even though transfers differ across countries, there are important lessons to be learned from these case studies. For policymakers, researchers, and practitioners interested in understanding the theoretical considerations in designing transfers, what works and what does not work, and how to design a better system, this book is essential reading.' --Enid Slack, University of Toronto, Canada About the Author Edited by Serdar Yilmaz, Lead Public Sector Specialist and Farah Zahir, Senior Economist, Governance Global Practice, The World Bank