This booklet offers a snapshot of fiscal federalism in 12 federal democracies. It includes a glossary of country-specific terminology, serving as an entry point to a forthcoming book on the same theme. The booklet series is the fourth in a series created to provide accessible and comparative information on federal systems.

Contributors provide a fascinating account of how federal countries are confronting the traditional challenges of conflicts over division of fiscal powers while also coping with emerging challenges of globalization and citizen empowerment arising from the information revolution. They analyze how relationships and roles in different orders of government are being reshaped and show how local solutions inspired by global principles help strengthen government accountability and improve the quality of life for citizens.

This book comprehensively examines the principles and practices of fiscal federalism based on the accepted theoretical framework and best practices.

Over the past few decades, a clear trend has emerged worldwide toward the devolution of spending and, to a lesser extent, revenue-raising responsibilities to state and local levels of government. One view is that the decentralization of spending responsibilities can entail substantial gains in terms of distributed equity and macroeconomic management. The papers in this volume, edited by Teresa Ter-Minassian, examine the validity of these views in light of theoretical considerations, as well as the experience of a number of countries.

Intergovernmental transfers, tax, budet, subnational government, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Bulgaria, China, Hungary, Russian Federation.

This reprinted edition of a classic and truly seminal book, written by one of the leading thinkers in the field, represents the first comprehensive treatment of the economic theory of multi-level government. It explores the specific economic roles of the various levels of government, the assignment of different forms of taxation to central, state (provincial), and local governments, and the fiscal links between tiers of government provided by intergovernmental grants. This reprinted edition includes a new preface that briefly describes the origins of the book and comments on the evolution of the theory and practice of fiscal federalism since its original publication. The primary interest in the book will come from scholars and graduate students interested in multi-level public finance and public economics.