Evaluation in recent decades has evolved from a tool for project appraisals to a more widely used framework for public decision-making and operational management. Most evaluation books are focused on traditional tools of analysis such as cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis to the neglect of modern tools such as multi-criteria evaluation, social marginal cost of funds analysis, data envelopment analysis, results-oriented management and evaluation and theory based evaluations. This edited volume provides an easily accessible and comprehensive survey of both traditional and modern tools of analysis that are used in the evaluation literature to evaluate public projects, programs, policies and policy analysis and advice. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

Globalization and the information revolution have highlighted the catalytic role of local governments for improving economic and social outcomes at the local level as well as growing the national economy by enhancing international competitiveness. This comprehensive account of local public finance and economics brings together principles and better practices for improving quality and access of local public services provision. The volume covers assignment of responsibilities; jurisdictional design; local service delivery; local regulation; local self-financing options such as income, sales, property and environmental taxation, user charges and fees; infrastructure finance options; and higher order government financing of local governments. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences including scholars, instructors, students, media, policy advisers and practitioners.

This book reviews taxing choices to protect the local and global environment and preserve and sustain natural resources. Alternative economic instruments such as carbon taxes and tradable permits to combat global climate change are also examined. Strategies and practices for the managing and sharing of revenues from natural resources are highlighted. Also, roles of various orders of government in managing, taxing, and sharing natural resources in selected countries are documented to highlight the impact of such division of responsibilities in preserving natural resources and the environment. The susceptibility of resource revenue dependent economies to corruption and malfeasance, and the Dutch disease, is also highlighted. This book could serve as a supplementary reference book for graduate and undergraduate courses and as a sourcebook for journalists, researchers, policymakers, and government practitioners.

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of traditional as well as newer topics in local public, fiscal and financial management principles and practices. It covers traditional topics of local public management, local revenue administration with special emphasis on property tax administration, local budgeting and accounting, and methods of capital finance. Newer topics covered include political economy of local government, fiscal rules for local fiscal discipline, local government integrity and performance accountability, and municipal mergers and inter-municipal cooperation based upon relative importance and political, fiscal and administrative autonomy of local governments. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences including scholars, instructors, students, policy advisors, and practitioners.

Evaluation in recent decades has evolved from a tool for project appraisals to a more widely used framework for public decision-making and operational management. Most evaluation books are focused on traditional tools of analysis such as cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis to the neglect of modern tools such as multi-criteria evaluation, social marginal cost of funds analysis, data envelopment analysis, results-oriented management and evaluation and theory based evaluations. This edited volume provides an easily accessible and comprehensive survey of both traditional and modern tools of analysis that are used in the evaluation literature to evaluate public projects, programs, policies and policy analysis and advice. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of traditional as well as newer topics in local public, fiscal and financial management principles and practices. It covers traditional topics of local public management, local revenue administration with special emphasis on property tax administration, local budgeting and accounting, and methods of capital finance. Newer topics covered include political economy of local government, fiscal rules for local fiscal discipline, local government integrity and performance accountability, and municipal mergers and inter-municipal cooperation based upon relative importance and political, fiscal and administrative autonomy of local governments. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences including scholars, instructors, students, policy advisors, and practitioners.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the principles and practices of fiscal federalism based on the currently accepted theoretical framework and best practices. The traditional topics of assignment of responsibilities, intergovernmental fiscal arrangements, fiscal competition, and grants are covered in a unified framework with reference to actual practices followed in federations around the world. Special issues such as local government and the implications of natural resource issues are considered along with emerging issues such as governance, corruption, and the effect of globalization and the information revolution on the nation state. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences, including scholars, instructors, students, policy advisors, and practitioners.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the principles and practices of fiscal federalism based on the currently accepted theoretical framework and best practices. The traditional topics of assignment of responsibilities, intergovernmental fiscal arrangements, fiscal competition, and grants are covered in a unified framework with reference to actual practices followed in federations around the world. Special issues such as local government and the implications of natural resource issues are considered along with emerging issues such as governance, corruption, and the effect of globalization and the information revolution on the nation state. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences, including scholars, instructors, students, policy advisors, and practitioners.

Globalization and the information revolution have highlighted the catalytic role of local governments for improving economic and social outcomes at the local level as well as growing the national economy by enhancing international competitiveness. This comprehensive account of local public finance and economics brings together principles and better practices for improving quality and access of local public services provision. The volume covers assignment of responsibilities; jurisdictional design; local service delivery; local regulation; local self-financing options such as income, sales, property and environmental taxation, user charges and fees; infrastructure finance options; and higher order government financing of local governments. The treatment is non-technical and suitable for a wide variety of audiences including scholars, instructors, students, media, policy advisers and practitioners.

Local budgeting serves important functions that include setting priorities, planning, financial control over inputs, management of operations and accountability to citizens. These objectives give rise to technical and policy issues that require open discussion and debate. The format of the budget document can facilitate this debate. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of local budgeting needed to develop sound fiscal administration at the local level. Topics covered include fiscal administration, forecasting, fiscal discipline, fiscal transparency, integrity of revenue administration, budget formats, and processes including performance budgeting, and capital budgeting.

Budgeting and budgetary institutions play a critical role in resource allocation, government accountability, and improved fiscal and social outcomes. This volume distills lessons from practices in designing better fiscal institutions, citizen friendly budgets, and open and transparent processes of budget preparation and execution. It also highlights newer concepts of performance budgeting, accrual accounting, activity based costing, and the use of information and communication technology in budgeting. These tools of analysis are supplemented by a review of budgeting in post-conflict countries and two country case studies on the reform of budgeting systems.

Transparent and prudent local financial management has come to be recognized as critical to the integrity of local public sector and to gaining and retaining trust of local residents. Such integrity and trust is sometimes lacking in some local governments in developing countries, especially in the Africa region. This volume attempts to provide practical guidance to local governments interested in establishing sound financial management systems. Leading international experts have contributed to all relevant aspects of local public financial management - cash management, internal controls, accounts, audits, and debt management.

Performance based oversight and accountability can serve as an important antidote to government corruption, inefficiency, and waste. This volume provides an analytical framework and operational approaches needed for the implementation of results-based accountability. The volume makes a major contribution to the literature on public management and evaluation. Major subject areas covered in this book include: performance based accountability, e-government, network solutions to performance measurement and improvement; institutions of accountability in governance; legal and institutional framework to hold government to account; fighting corruption; external accountability; ensuring integrity of revenue administration; the role of supreme audit institutions on detecting fraud and corruption; and the role of parliamentary budget offices and public accounts committees.

In the past three or four decades, public finance theorists and practitioners have struggled to identify and design institutional arrangements to help close the gap between the preferences of voters and the mix of public services actually delivered. Participatory budgeting is potentially a good approach. This book presents an authoritative guide to the principles and practice of participatory budgeting, providing a careful analysis of the potentials of participatory budgeting in strengthening inclusive and accountable governance as well as risks associated with interest group capture of participatory processes. For interested policy makers and practitioners, the book presents the 'nuts and bolts' of participatory budgeting. It provides a regional survey of such practices worldwide and draws lessons from seven individual country case studies. A CD-ROM included with the book contains these seven country case studies on Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Thailand and the Ukraine.

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.

A well-functioning public sector that delivers quality public services consistent with citizen preferences and that fosters private market-led growth while managing fiscal resources prudently is considered critical for poverty alleviation. This important new series aims to advance those objectives by disseminating conceptual guidance and lessons from practices and by facilitating learning from each others' experiences on ideas and practices that promote responsive (by matching public services with citizens' preferences), responsible (through efficiency and equity in service provision without undue fiscal and social risk), and accountable (to citizens for all actions) public governance in developing countries. This series, edited by Anwar Shah, distills current wisdom and presents tools of analysis for improving the efficiency, equity, and efficacy of the public sector. Leading public policy experts and practitioners have contributed to the series. This title explores two themes: the orientation of government towards its more vulnerable groups and the extent to which government is responsive to its citizens. It provides tools, methodologies, and examples of how to examine the impact of government expenditures, taxes, pension systems, and other policies on women, the poor, and the elderly. The title also proposes a new institutional framework for governments that wish to implement reforms that increase responsiveness: citizen-centered government and citizen-centered budgeting.

The globalization of information satellite TV, internet, phone and fax serve to enhance citizens' awareness of their rights, obligations, options and alternatives and strengthens demands for greater accountability from the public sector. However, the power of accountability is significantly reduced if citizens are unable to measure their government's performance in a meaningful way, which is precisely the topic of this timely book. The abstract concept of 'government performance' can only be an effective tool in public debate when there are concrete statistics measuring performance and benchmarks against which current indicators can be compared. 'Public Services Delivery' offers a comprehensive view of government performance measurement. The first part examines systems or frameworks for measuring the performance of government at the national level and at local levels of government. The second part of the book focuses on particular sectors that form the core of essential government services: health, education, welfare, waste disposal, and infrastructure. This book provides powerful tools to: a. development practitioners to evaluate projects, b. to policymakers to reform their government's policies, and c. to public interest groups that wish to pressure their government for improvements in government services."

A well-functioning public sector that delivers quality public services consistent with citizen preferences and that fosters private market-led growth while managing fiscal resources prudently is considered critical for poverty alleviation. This important new series aims to advance those objectives by disseminating conceptual guidance and lessons from practices and by facilitating learning from each others' experiences on ideas and practices that promote responsive (by matching public services with citizens' preferences), responsible (through efficiency and equity in service provision without undue fiscal and social risk), and accountable (to citizens for all actions) public governance in developing countries. This series, edited by Anwar Shah, distills current wisdom and presents tools of analysis for improving the efficiency, equity, and efficacy of the public sector. Leading public policy experts and practitioners have contributed to the series. In the public sphere, incentives for public servants and policymakers are derived from the countries' accountability frameworks-the rewards, sanctions, and measurement of performance-that shape public sector performance. This title applies this fundamental insight to fiscal/budgetary analysis and public service delivery, giving the reader tools and real world examples from around the globe of institutional arrangements to help citizens hold government accountable for their performance.