Subnational Finance

With worldwide decentralization, the sustainability of sub-national finance is vital.  PRMED is actively engaged in gathering cross-country experiences in the reform and sustainability of sub-national finance, specifically:

• The subnational fiscal sustainability framework for analyzing key components of subnational fiscal accounts and how they relate to reforms, uncertainties, shocks, as well as the interplay of national and sub-national policies;
• The design and implementation of subnational taxation systems, and their challenges;
  Fiscal transfer, grant systems, and their challenges in addressing incentives and accountability;
• Ex-ante legislative frameworks, including fiscal responsibility legislation regulating sub-national borrowing;
• Sub-national insolvency mechanisms for ex-post debt workout and restructuring, and their central features and variations across countries in resolving sub-national financial distress.

Subnational Fiscal Sustainability Analysis

• Theoretical Prerequisites for Fiscal Sustainability Analysis - Burnside, 2005.  Chapter. 2 in Craig Burnside, "Fiscal Sustainability in Theory and Practice," World Bank.
• Some Tools for Fiscal Sustainability Analysis - Burnside, 2005.  Chapter 3 in Craig Burnside, "Fiscal Sustainability in Theory and Practice," World Bank.
• Subnational Fiscal Sustainability Analysis - What Can We Learn From Tamil Nadu? - Ianchovichina, Liu and Nagarajan, 2006.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3947.

Ex-ante Fiscal Responsibility Legislation

• Fiscal Responsiblity Laws for Subnational Discipline: The Latino Experience - Webb, 2003. World Bank.
• Subnational Borrowing, Insolvency and Regulations - Liu and Waibel, World Bank, 2008. (forthcoming)

Regulatory Framework for Sub-National Borrowing

• Subnational Insolvency: Cross-Country Experiences and Lessons - Liu and Waibel, 2008.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4496.
• Creating a Regulatory Framework for Managing Subnational Borrowing - Liu, 2008.  Chapter 9, China Public Finance Book.

Sub-National Taxation

• Alternative Approaches to Taxing Land and Real Property - Slack.  Chapter 10.
• Local Business Taxes - Bird. Chapter 11.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers

• A Practitioner's Guide to Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers - Shah, 2006.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4039.

Support to APEC FMM Workshop on Fiscal Risk Management

• Understanding the Fiscal Effects of Public-Private Partnerships - Irwin, 2007.  Briefing note for APEC Meeting, Washington DC.
• Managing Sunbational Fiscal Risks - Liu, 2007.  Briefing note for APEC Meeting, Washington DC.