Although decentralization and reactions against it have become increasingly important policy trends in developing countries, the study of this nearly ubiquitous phenomenon has been largely fractured across academic disciplines, geographic regions, and the academic-practitioner divide. The contributors to this edited volume begin to cross some of these constraining, artificial boundaries. Considering decentralization from an interdisciplinary, historical, and comparative perspective, they collectively explore why it has evolved in particular ways and with varied outcomes. In addition to taking an atypically comparative perspective, the volume highlights the importance of an historical analysis of decentralization and links this to institutional and public policy outcomes. Placing decentralization in this context illustrates why it has taken dissimilar shapes and produced varying results over time in different countries. This in turn helps to clarify the types of institutions and conditions required for the development and survival of decentralization, paving the way for more creative thinking and informed policymaking. The countries covered include: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Students and scholars of economics, political science and development will find the policy and theoretical discussions enlightening. The volume will also prove useful to policymakers and development institutions confronting issues of decentralization.

While writing these childrens books I mixed fact with fiction, reality with fantasy, and the will to overcome near-impossible problems with creative solutions. Since children need positive encouragement, optimism, hope, and, most of all - love, Ive created stories using animals - who are true to their particular nature. I chose animals which children can both relate to and understand by their own unique behaviors, but sometimes with a little humor and a few unexpected happenings. Positive reading for positive readers!

In this third volume of Wonderful Stories from Skog Forest, many silly and unwarranted fears that children and adults have are discussed and thwarted. Such strange fears are everything from green slime on rocks in rivers, ponds and lakes to cemetaries - small bugs to darkness - and, of course, rain and thunder. The book teaches children that if they would only learn about these senseless fears, the fears would go away, and also that when they come across something that is truely dangerous, they wouldn't fear it, but respect it instead.

"Man hurts what he fears, fears what he hates, and hates what he does not understand! - And this is the root problem of the world!"

While writing these children's books I mixed fact with fiction, reality with fantasy, and the will to overcome near-impossible problems with creative solutions. Since children need positive encouragement, optimism, hope, and, most of all - love, I've created stories using animals - who are true to their particular nature. I chose animals which children can both relate to and understand by their own unique behaviors, but sometimes with a little humor and a few unexpected happenings. Positive reading for positive readers!

While writing these children's books I mixed fact with fiction, reality with fantasy, and the will to overcome near-impossible problems with creative solutions. Since children need positive encouragement, optimism, hope, and, most of all - love, I've created stories using animals - who are true to their particular nature. I chose animals which children can both relate to and understand by their own unique behaviors, but sometimes with a little humor and a few unexpected happenings. Positive reading for positive readers!

For decades, the use of vouchers has been widely debated. But often lost in the heat of debate is the fact that vouchers are just another tool in the government's tool chest, a restricted subsidy that falls somewhere between the extremes of cash and direct government provision of services. The instrument itself is not new --the 1944 GI Bill of Rights was a voucher, and vouchers for food, college aid, and housing have been in place for decades. Until now, however, the study of vouchers has been restricted to a few controversial applications. This volume, which grew out of a conference sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, and the Committee for Economic Development, fills the gap, offering a framework for comparative analysis of specific policy issues related to vouchers. Its 16 essays address the economics, politics, and legal issues of voucher use and explore how vouchers are currently employed in the United States and abroad for education, child care, job training, housing, and health care. C. Eugene Steuerle is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and has worked under four different U.S. presidents on a variety of reform issues in such areas as social security, budget, tax, and health policy. Robert D. Reischauer, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995. George Peterson is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute; from 1976 to 1985 he directed the Institute's Public Finance Research Center. Van Doorn Ooms, senior vice president and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development, was formerly executive director for policy and chief economist of the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-1990, and was the Budget Committee's chief economist from 1981 to 1988.