Fiscal policy is an incredibly important tool for governments across the world, with many countries facing dilemmas in crafting fiscal policies to meet changing demographic needs, greater demands for social welfare and sudden spending due to shocks such as terrorism. This important book looks at fiscal policy in the Asian Pacific economies and with a broad array of contributors will be a useful tool to students, researchers and professionals working in international economics and finance.

The 22 papers in this volume illustrate the itinerary of Henry Tulkens on the occasion of his retirement from teaching. The volume presents contemporary analysis of Tulkens classic papers on public sector economics. The collection is structured in four parts: I. Decentralized resource allocation processes for public and private goods - II. Environment, public goods and externalities - III. Efficiency analysis - IV. Fiscal competition and optimality.

This book sheds new light on the critical importance of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), a remarkably successful central bank that is a model for developing oil exporters worldwide. As a "swing producer", Saudi Arabia has traditionally stepped in to make up for oil supply shortfalls in other OPEC countries, or to scale back their own production when overabundance might lead to a price crash. Since 2014, Saudi Arabia has changed its policy in response to the rise of American shale oil, in search of a long-term strategy that will, once again, help balance supply and demand at a steady price. In its informal dual role of central bank and sovereign wealth fund, SAMA must navigate the paradoxes faced by monoline oil producing countries: the need for diversification vs. dependence on oil-based revenue; the loss of foreign exchange reserves that follows oil-financed government spending; the unreliability of revenue from oil; the challenges of using a Western model for supervising Shariah-compliant banks; and the need to have a balancing mix of oil and financial assets. As SAMA (now the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) reassesses its role in 2017, this history and guide to current policy issues will prove invaluable for policymakers in oil producing economies looking to apply lessons from the past as they plan for the future.

The Fiscal Impact Handbook is a unique manual detailing practical methods for determining the full range of revenues and costs associated with residential and nonresidential growth. Planners, economists, businessmen, administrators, financial officers, assessors, community groups, private organizations, and those interested in the fiscal consequences of growth and non-growth will find "The Fiscal Impact Handbook" indispensable. Fiscal impact methods are presented in a clear, step-by-step format and are capable of being carried out by the practicing planner with minimal procedural problems. The manual is designed as a basic tool to be used for projections of direct, current public (and private) costs and revenues resulting from population or employment change to the local jurisdiction in which change is taking place. Standardized methods are presented with attention paid to the underlying assumptions, limitations, and applicability of these methods. Necessary factors affecting the planning and legal framework and documentation of key data input are covered for proper utilization of fiscal impact methods.

Detailed examples are given to the six flexible methods, presented with suggestions on how they can be modified by the user to meet requirements. In addition, current computer models of analysis are evaluated for operational needs and benefits. Included also is a comprehensive bibliography of the cost-revenue field and an index for quick, easy reference. This is an invaluable work for urban analysts, planners, and developers written by two of the top minds in the field of urban policy.

Originally published in 1991, user charges and earmarked taxes are methods by which people pay directly for the services they recieve from government. As such they are frequently supported by those who oppose increased taxation, who argue that they are more like market transactions than traditional forms of taxation. This book explores the cogency of these arguments in the light of public choice analyses of political processes.

The need for evaluation of public sector research and development activity is critical in today's political environment to assist policymakers with resource allocation. Methodology for evaluating public sector research and development activity is described and illustrated by the author using in-depth case studies drawn from the research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These cases range from newly formed federal laboratory research initiatives to well-established research programs. Managerial and evaluative guidelines are enunciated.

The United States has supported research and development activity on both the applied and basic research levels for most of its history. The importance of public sector research has often been discussed but its effectiveness has not been adequately reviewed. The need for evaluation of public sector research and development activity is critical in today's political environment to assist policymakers with resource allocation. Methodology for evaluating public sector research and development activity is described and illustrated by the author using in-depth case studies drawn from the research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These cases range from newly formed federal laboratory research initiatives to well-established research programs. Managerial and evaluative guidelines are enunciated.

This work should be of interest to scholars who deal with economics in general, public policy, science policy, and public administration. In addition, practitioners in public administration and managers of public sector research laboratories on federal and state levels should find the information useful. Those who depend on research and development done with public sector money or who use it to supplement their research programs will also be interested.

The COVID-19 pandemic, coming on the heels of the Eurozone Debt Crisis, financial crisis and Great Recession, has provoked a renewed interest in the determinants of public borrowing. By nature an interdisciplinary subject, public borrowing draws from fields as diverse as macroeconomics, finance, law, history, politics and sociology. This new four volume collection will systematically survey this vast and disparate literature, gathering together the key writings and research to provide an essential research resource.

This book focuses on the impact on financial regulation and examines the impact of financial regulation on bank performances from different perspectives. More specifically, this study investigates how bank sector reforms and bank regulation and supervision affect the competition, stability and risk-taking behavior in banking system.

This book expands on issues like fiscal sustainability, state enterprises and the variety of subsidies, with a multi-country focus. Drawing examples from numerous countries, it presents issues in contemporary finance and especially fiscal policy that can benefit researchers and civil servants from both developed, as well as developing worlds and emerging market economies.

Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to civil servants and practitioners. It also serves as a reference source for students and academics, and can be used as a text book for advanced courses on public finance.

In a recent study of 61 hospitals, it was found that they bought 21 different types of A4 paper, 652 different kinds of surgical gloves and 1751 different cannulas. Police forces could cut the cost of their uniforms by over 30 per cent if they all bought the same one. But they disagree on how many pockets they need. Having committed to buy two new aircraft carriers, the MOD realised it didn't have the funds to buy them. The delayed delivery cost an additional GBP1.6 billion. We've spent GBP500 million on an abandoned project to centralise 999 calls, GBP3.5 billion on privatising the Work Programme, GBP700 million on implementing Universal Credit (used by 18,000 people), GBP20 billion on medical negligence claims, GBP70 billion (and counting) dealing with nuclear waste at Sellafield, and countless millions on IT investments in the BBC, the Home Office, the NHS . . . Waste is everywhere. Fighting against this waste is the Public Accounts Committee, which oversees some GBP700 billion of public spending every year. As its chair from 2010-15, Margaret Hodge knows the excesses of government bodies better than anyone. Conversational, witty, engaging and packed with anecdotes and insights about the biggest political figures of our time, Called to Account shines a light on some of the most fascinating - and alarming - issues that face Britain today.

This volume presents selected papers on recent management research from the 20th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, which was held in Vienna in 2016. Its primary goal is to showcase advances in the fields of public economics, regional studies, economic development and inequality, and economic policy-making. Reflecting the contemporary political climate, many of the articles address the effectiveness, relevance and impact of European Union policies. In addition, the volume features empirical research from less-researched countries such as Kazakhstan, the Republic of Macedonia, Belarus, and Lithuania, among others.

Created in 1974, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has become one of the most influential forces in national policymaking. A critical component of our system of checks and balances, the CBO has given Congress the analytical capacity to challenge the president on budget issues while it protects the public interest, providing honest numbers about Congress's own budget proposals. The book discusses the CBO's role in larger budget policy and the more narrow "scoring" of individual legislation, such as its role in the 2009--2010 Obama health care reform. It also describes how the first director, Alice Rivlin, and seven successors managed to create and sustain a nonpartisan, highly credible agency in the middle of one of the most partisan institutions imaginable.

"The Congressional Budget Office: Honest Numbers, Power, and Policy" draws on interviews with high-level participants in the budget debates of the last 35 years to tell the story of the CBO. A combination of political history, economic history, and organizational development, "The Congressional Budget Office" offers an important, first book-length history of this influential agency.

This book discusses the latest developments in the China Pilot Free- Trade Zone strategy. It puts forward and explains the idea that building the Shanghai Pilot Free-Trade Zone (SFTZ) is a national test, as it is a major strategic decision to help China cope with the new situation resulting from opening-up and the further implementation of the reform. Based on China's strategic demand in the era of globalization, this book takes into account the global structure of trade, investment and changes in standards, and studies the system of SFTZ. Moreover, based on the national strategy of building international-caliber free-trade zone, it compares the SFTZ with other established free-trade zones and free-port cities. It reveals the overall SFTZ framework and explains in detail aspects of the financial system, investment management, trade supervision, taxation, offshore trade and finance, government system reform, plus the linkage mechanism of building Shanghai as an international economy, finance, trade and shipping center.

This book presents state-of-the-art research in political economy dealing with the decision making process under different political institutions. It focuses on the role that states and governments have on political outcomes and on the well-being of individuals, taking into account the differences that arise across autocracies and democracies and within political regimes. The research in this book is embedded with the political economy and social choice traditions and uses the rigorous frameworks of economics, political science and social choice theory to show how institutional settings shape social choices of a group of individuals or a nation. The contributions in this volume use a variety of cutting-edge game theory and mathematical tools as well as data and simulations that coupled with statistical techniques help us gain greater insights into these issues.

A collection of studies that explores the extractive systems of eleven ancient states and societies from across the ancient world Ancient Taxation is a collection of studies that explores the extractive systems of eleven ancient states and societies from across the ancient world, ranging from Bronze Age China to Anglo-Saxon Britain. The contributors discuss the inherent challenges of taxation in predominantly agro-pastoral societies, including basic tax strategy (e.g., taxing goods vs. labor, in-kind vs. money taxes, etc.); the mechanics of assessment and collection; and the politics of negotiating the cooperation of social, economic, and political elites and other important social groups. In assembling a broad range of studies, this book sheds new light on the commonalities and differences between ancient taxation systems, and so on the broader fiscal and institutional practices of antiquity. It also provides new impetus for further comparative research into extractive practices across ancient societies and between antiquity and recent historical periods. The book will be of interest to those studying ancient social and economic history, the history of social organization, and the history of ancient Greece and Rome, Egypt, the Ancient Near East, or ancient China.

This book explores the wave of liberalization reforms experienced by OECD network industries. Focusing on the telecommunications sector, the authors analyze the latest data available on liberalization and privatization, and following a political economics approach, they integrate standard economic analysis with the most recent studies of the political determinants of market-oriented policies. The book presents new econometric evidence on several policy issues, including institutional complementarities dynamics, the problem of policy sequencing and the role of government political ideology. The detailed and comprehensive discussion offers insights into how so many countries adopting similar reforms actually differ in their policy "bundling", intensity and implementation of liberalization and privatization.

In recent times not only have traditional areas of public economics such as taxation, public expenditure, public sector pricing, benefit cost analysis, and fiscal federalism thrown up new challenges but entirely new areas of research and inquiry have emerged. This second edition builds upon the strengths of the previous edition and incorporates results of research on new areas such as global public goods, environmental taxation and carbon permits trading and the complexities of corporate taxation in a rapidly globalizing world.

The book is a modern and comprehensive exposition of public economics. It includes extended discussions on topics of particular interest to developing countries and covers subjects such as:

• taxation in an economy with a large informal sector
• the challenges of using VAT
• the use of randomized evaluation
• theory of public expenditure and public goods including global public goods
• incentive effects of taxation and tax incidence

This book discusses the major traditional areas of taxation and public expenditure as well as emerging issues relating to public economics in the globalized world economy. It will be useful as a reference and update on the modern literature on public economics for professional economists and policymakers, as well as providing invaluable information as a basic text for undergraduate and graduate students in public economics.

Why, in the last decades of the twentieth century, did industralized nations witness recurring vast public deficits, even in times of peaceful international relations and economic growth? The essays in Politics, Institutions, and Fiscal Policy chart answers sought by economists, political scientists, and government officials. This groundbreaking book looks at states within five industrialized federations Canadian provinces, Swiss cantons, Belgian regions, German lander, and American states as case studies of variation in budget balances since 1980. The work s conclusion compares deficit levels between the federations studied. Politics, Institutions, and Fiscal Policy sheds new light on the role of such factors as spending and taxation levels and electoral and partisan cycles within the budget balancing process. Neatly written and theoretically grounded, this volume contributes greatly to our understanding of public finance and public administration."

China's stunning record of economic development since the 1970s has been marred by an increasingly obvious gap between the country's 'haves' and its 'have-nots'. While people living in some parts of the country have enjoyed dramatically improved conditions of life, those in other districts and regions have slipped ever further behind in terms of access to health, wealth, education, security and opportunity. Paying for Progress in China is a collection of essays which trace the causes of this growing inequality, using new data including surveys, interviews, newly available official statistics and in-depth fieldwork. Their findings expose the malfunctioning of China's 'broken' intergovernmental fiscal system, which has exacerbated the disequalizing effects of emerging market forces. Whilst the government's deliberately 'pro-poor' development policies have in recent years sought to reduce the gap between rich and poor, both markets, and also state institutions and policies, are continuing to create perverse equity outcomes across the country, confounding hopes for better-balanced and more inclusive growth in China. The interdisciplinary approach of this collection, incorporating work by economists, sociologists and political scientists, makes it a valuable resource for students of contemporary Chinese political economy and social development.

This key volume explores how party and campaign finance in post-communist countries have influenced the development of the party system. Based on an analysis of nine case studies, the work examines how the implementation of public finance affects the pattern of party competition and the role of money in elections. One of the lessons from the post-communist experience is that, no matter how well-designed, public finance systems are subject to constant revision as parties, politicians and business elites exploit loopholes which can undermine the integrity of the entire system. Party and campaign finance systems must therefore be considered in a larger discussion involving party regulation and electoral rules.

The intergovernmental fiscal issue is highly relevant given the worldwide movement toward more decentralized governance in both industrial and developing countries. Over the course of five decades Japan has developed a robust system of decentralized governance. This book investigates fiscal decentralization and local finance in Japan with a view to understanding how the process of decentralization has unfolded there and what the rest of the world can learn. The author sheds light on the drives leading up to a need for decentralization reform over the last decade and evaluates so-called 'Trinity Reform' implemented by the Koizumi administration during 2004-2006. Finally, the book considers the decentralization process in Asian developing countries and discusses what lessons might be drawn from Japanese experiences. This excellent study of an important subject area will be particularly useful for all those studying intergovernmental fiscal relations, public finance and public sector economics. It will also be of interest to specialist international organizations and policy makers who are involved in intergovernmental issues.

This book elaborates on how Norway has managed to convert a large fraction of its endowment of hydrocarbons below the seabed of Norwegian waters into financial wealth, invested in the world's capital markets. Further, it explains how this wealth is managed. Under the current guidelines, only the assessed return on investment may be allotted to public budgets. This ensures that the wealth will benefit both current and future generations. The capital is gathered in the Sovereign Wealth Fund - or State Pension Fund Global (SPF-G) -, which is intended to maximize capital value without exceeding acceptable risks. The book offers new insights into the history and management of the fund, examines its successes,and discusses future challenges. Given its scope, it appeals to scholars of economics, finance and political science, and to anyone interested in the sustainable investment of natural resource-based revenues.

America's debt is in the trillions--and yet, like those who worry about borrowing five dollars but not about their unaffordable mortgage, Americans fail to pay attention to this serious situation. The press hovers over annual budgets and the associated deficits (and rare surpluses), but pays little attention to the national debt and even less to the interest spent serving it. Federal politicians seem as powerless to control the debt as they are uninformed about its nature. After tracing fluctuations in the finances of the country from its beginning until 1940, this book examines the administrations of the next 12 presidents (FDR through George W. Bush) and the annual budget deficits and interest expenses that fed the national debt. The startup debt of each administration is shown; then the change in debt through the end of the administration is analyzed to show what areas of government incurred overspending and how much was overspent. Also included are brief biographies of each president, and discussions of foreign and domestic situations, including judicial decisions and sociological changes, that affected fiscal policies and fueled the urge to overspend.

Revenue and expenditure forecasting plays an important role in public budgeting and financial management, particularly during times of financial constraint, when citizens impose greater accountability upon government to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. Despite its significance, revenue and expenditure forecasting is often overlooked in the budget process, and there is an imbalance between practice and research in this area. Based on the collaboration of budget scholars and practitioners, Government Budget Forecasting fulfills two purposes- Enhances the understanding of revenue and expenditure estimation both theoretically and practically Stimulates dialogue and debate among practitioners and academicians to identify good forecast practices as well as areas for improvement

Divided into four parts, this comprehensive reference first examines forecast practices at the federal, state, and local levels, utilizing case studies that include California, Texas, and Louisiana. It then explores consensus systems and risk assessment, considering political factors and the costs of forecast errors. The text concludes with a call to transparency and guidance from a code of ethics, and a look at forecasting practices in emerging countries.