Fiscal Responsibility Laws for Subnational Discipline: The Latin American Experience PDF Download

Author: Steven Benjamin Webb
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Local finance
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Author: Steven B. Webb
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
Webb discusses fiscal responsibility laws in Latin America, with special attention to their provisions for fiscal discipline by subnational governments. He discusses why and when such laws might be useful - to help resolve the coordination problem in getting diverse governments to avoid overusing the common national credit market and to help individual governments make a time-consistent commitment for fiscal prudence. The author examines the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, as well as the case of Mexico where other types of laws and regulations aim to achieve the same objectives of solidifying incentives for fiscal discipline at all levels of government. Fiscal responsibility laws are found to be useful in some cases, although the experience is not long enough to be certain, but they are clearly not necessary in every case, nor always sufficient to assure fiscal stability.This paper - a product of the Economic Policy Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to understand the dynamics of fiscal policy in a federal context.

Author: René Geissler
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030674665
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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This book is based upon a comparative public administration research project, initiated by the Hertie School of Governance (Germany) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) and supported by a network of researchers from many EU countries. It analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries. The book brings together key findings of this research project. The regulatory discussion is not limited to the prominent issue of fiscal rules but focuses on every component of regulation. Beyond this, the book covers affiliated topics such as the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention. The various book chapters throughout provide a broad picture of local public finance regulation in theory and in practice, using different theoretical and national lenses for the analysis. Furthermore, the authors investigate the effects of budgetary constraints and higher-level regulatory efforts on local governments and on democracy and public services in every European country. This book fills a gap with respect to the lack of discussion on local government finance from an international, comparative perspective and, in particular, the regulation of local public finance. With its mix of authors, this book will be useful for practitioners as well as for scholars and for theory-driven research.

Author: Mr.Manmohan S. Kumar
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 158906609X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Fiscal discipline is essential to improve and sustain economic performance, maintain macroeconomic stability, and reduce vulnerabilities. Discipline is especially important if countries, industrial as well as developing, are to successfully meet the challenges, and reap the benefits, of economic and financial globalization. Lack of fiscal discipline generally stems from the injudicious use of policy discretion. The benefits of discretion are seen in terms of the ability of policymakers to respond to unexpected shocks and in allowing elected political representatives to fulfill their mandates. But discretion can be misused, resulting in persistent deficits and procyclical policies, rising debt levels, and, over time, a loss in policy credibility. The authors first explore the role of discretion in fiscal policy, and the extent, consequences, and causes of procyclicality, particularly in good times. They then examine how a variety of institutional approaches—fiscal rules, fiscal responsibility laws, and fiscal agencies—can help improve fiscal discipline. While each of these approaches can play a useful role, the authors suggest that a strategy combining them is likely to be particularly beneficial. Although such a strategy requires political commitment and effective fiscal management, at the same time, the strategy itself can bolster political commitment by highlighting the restraints on government and raising the costs of failing to respect them.

Author: Lili Liu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Lorenzo Forni
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 147556998X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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The paper provides evidence that fiscal rules can limit the political budget cycle. It focuses on the application of the Italian fiscal rule at the sub-national level over the period 2004-2006 and shows that: 1) municipalities are subject to political budget cycles in capital spending; 2) the Italian subnational fiscal rule introduced in 1999 has been enforced by the central government; 3) municipalities subject to the fiscal rule show more limited political budget cycles than municipalities not subject to the rule. In order to identify the effect, we rely on the fact that the domestic fiscal rule does not apply to municipalities below 5,000 inhabitants. We find that the political budget cycle increases real capital spending by about 35 percent on average in the years prior to municipal elections and that the sub-national fiscal rule reduces these figures by about two thirds.

Author: Marilyn Marks Rubin
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1466555416
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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State fiscal decisions have a significant impact on the US economy. Taken together, subnational governments employ more than one out of every eight workers and provide the bulk of all basic governmental services consumed by individuals and businesses. Sustaining the States: The Fiscal Viability of American State Governments will give you a basic understanding of trends in, current status of, and future prospects for the fiscal sustainability of state governments. After reading this book, you should have a great appreciation for the reach and multiple contributions of state governments to individuals and communities across the nation. The book examines the broad range and depth of state revenues, responsibilities, and activities. It begins with an assessment of executive budgeting in the states, then presents the experiences of states with strong executive-driven systems and the various rules and institutions that impact state government budget discipline. The book goes on to examine state revenue sources, debt, pensions, and spending, honing in on vital state functions including education, transportation, health services and public safety. It concludes with an assessment of the challenges that will test the fiscal vibrancy of US state governments going forward: vulnerability to future economic downturns, growing dependence on an increasingly austere federal government, the obsolescence of state tax systems and an ever more coercive system of federalism. Edited by experts, with a hand-picked panel of contributors, the book delineates the resources that states generate and use to conduct the business of government. The chapters outline the very real and significant constraints on the ability of the states to fulfill their responsibilities and introduce several challenges that state governments face and are actively addressing as they strive for fiscal sustainability. These features provide a clear, realistic understanding of state operations and financing in the United States, today. The book should also leave you with a sense of optimism for the capacity of state governments to advance forward.

Author: Kahkonen, Satu
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, policymakers around the world are focusing once again on government debt sustainability. In China, subnational government debt is an important part of total government debt, and therefore deserves the attention that policymakers have paid to the topic. Subnational debt has played an important role in financing China’s impressive infrastructure that is the envy of the world. It was instrumental in the economic stimulus that China so effectively staged after the global financial crisis, through which China maintained high levels of economic activity. This e-book reports on the proceedings of a joint P.R. China Ministry of Finance-World Bank international workshop on Subnational Debt Management held in Nanning, China in October 2015. Looking at both the Chinese perspective on this subject of subnational debt and selected international experiences along with experts’ perspectives together, we provide a syntheses of key issues which China needs to consider going forward in subnational debt management and restructuring. The roundtable discussion among international and Chinese experts oat the workshop on the way forward for China provided an illuminating discussion which highlighted the need for a transitional strategy for subnational financing, and the need to use debt sustainability as a guide for transition, which will involve tough fiscal policy choices and restructuring of the subnational economies concerned (not just debt restructuring alone). The urgency of strengthening budget and debt management prudent public investment prioritization and management in the subnational context cannot be emphasized enough.

Author: Dietmar Braun
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317246330
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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The Global Financial Crisis has led to a renewed attention for the management of public debt and deficits of advanced and developing industrial states. To successfully deal with such problems of public finances raises particular concerns in federal states where fiscal competencies are split between two levels of government. This book offers comparative in-depth knowledge of political struggles related to fiscal consolidation policies in eleven federal states since the 1990s, including the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. It identifies conditions that lead to "robust" solutions that can both commit federal actors to prudent fiscal policy-making and avoid conflicts between federal actors that cause federal instability. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of political economy and comparative politics in general and comparative federalism and EU Politics in particular.

Author: International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498334520
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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A number of member countries have expressed interest in advice regarding disclosure and management of fiscal risks (defined as the possibility of deviations of fiscal outcomes from what was expected at the time of the budget or other forecast). This paper analyzes the main sources of fiscal risks and—building on an overview of existing practices in a wide range of countries—provides practical suggestions in this area, including a possible Statement of Fiscal Risks and a set of Guidelines for Fiscal Risk Disclosure and Management.