Fiscal Decentralization Indicators For South East Europe Report 2006 2014

This departmental paper investigates how countries in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) can improve fiscal transparency, thereby raising government efficiency and reducing corruption vulnerabilities.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

'Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World' constitutes a global reference on decentralization by presenting the contemporary situation of local governments in all regions of the world. The report analyzes local authorities in each continent under three main themes: the evolution of territorial structures; responsibilities and power, management and finances; and local democracy. An additional chapter is dedicated to the governance of large metropolises, where rapid growth presents major challenges, in particular in the fast-developing countries of the South. This report also offers a comparative overview of the different realities concerning the state of decentralization, and how the basic indispensable mechansims for local democracy do, or do not exist in come countries. Relationships between the state and local authorities are evolving toward innovative forms of cooperation. In this context, the role of local authorities in the development of global policies is increasingly recognized. The first Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD) Report is one of the main products of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The GOLD Report is the first of what will be a triennial publication. UCLG represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organization's stated mission is: To be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community.

'...the book contains a good deal of useful information about local government finance in Europe.' - John Fender, Local Government Studies '...I would like to thank you for publishing the great book Local Public Finance in Europe. It is a rare source of institutional information and also great insights on the subject.' - Andrey Timofeev, Georgia State University, US 'In respect of the hard budget constraint imposed by the stability pact for Maastricht...and the fact that European central governments can no longer bail out sub-federal obligations for more than 3% deficit to GNP annually and 60% debt to GDP...the volume edited by B. Dafflon is important and highly welcome.... Insofar, it represents an interesting and important milestone in the evaluation of the success of local budget rules in European countries.' - C.A. Schaltegger, Kyklos Most countries apply some form of restrictions to local government budgeting and borrowing, but in various forms and to varying degrees. These restrictions are considered necessary components of a fiscal federalism involving some sort of central government control in local affairs, a design which can be termed 'administrative federalism'. In this comprehensive book Bernard Dafflon introduces the reader to the institutional complexities of fiscal controls in European local public finance. The authors comprehensively explore the issues of government budgeting and borrowing, with the ultimate aim of understanding how mechanisms of fiscal discipline are established and function. Ten European countries are scrutinised on the basis of ten key issues including local budgetary policy-making, the policy effects of local budget deficits and public debt, the rules of amortisation and debt instalment, whether extensive fiscal controls promote budget accountability and discipline, and how the Maastricht criteria concerning deficit and debt can be implemented. They go on to highlight the complicated mix of rules, administrative routines and co-operative arrangements through which each country implements their individual budget controls. Although these arrangements have been successful in avoiding serious fiscal imbalance in the last twenty years, the authors argue that their impact on the broader goals of the government sector remains a more contentious question. This book offers a broad understanding of the rich institutional variations and elaborate fiscal designs in Europe from a comparative perspective. It will be welcomed by political scientists, public sector managers and economists, and scholars, practitioners and advanced students of public policy and fiscal studies.