Now in its 4th edition, State and Local Public Finance provides a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of state and local government public finance practices and issues, using the basic tools of economics. For this new edition, there is a focus on the most important services provided in the state-local sector: education, health and welfare, public safety, and transportation. This textbook provides an examination and analysis of public finance practices and problems in a federal fiscal system, focusing on the fiscal behaviour and policies of state and local governments. The author presents detailed descriptions of significant institutions. Modern economic theory is applied to examine the way these institutions are used to produce and finance services, and to provide evaluation of alternative policies. Although the emphasis is on U.S. institutions and issues, much of the economic analysis can be applied to any federal system or to fiscal decentralization. This fully revised new edition sees updates throughout to data, topics, and applications. The Headlines and Applications sections reflect the most current policy issues affecting state and local governments. These include the effects of the Great Recession on state and local governments, changes in the tax treatment of internet purchases, the Affordable Care Act and implications for Medicaid spending by state governments, demographic changes and the implications for state-local finances, the implications of changes in automobile technology for transportation financing, and the potential for increased gambling activity. This text will continue to be invaluable reading for those who study public finance, local government finance, urban economics and public policy and public administration.
This book offers an essential guide to Public Finance and National Accounts in the context of the European Union. Since the creation of the Eurozone, fiscal policy has been at the heart of economic (but also political/media) discussions in the EU. From the Stability and Growth Pact (1997) to the more recent Fiscal Treaty, EU and Eurozone, countries have been subject to various fiscal rules. The importance of these rules, and of the subsequent procedures that every Eurozone country has to adhere to, is unquestionable. The book provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of the complex EU rules concerning fiscal policy, breaking down the corresponding legal texts into simple and accessible language. It has a broad interdisciplinary appeal, and scholars and practitioners whose work involves these areas will find it of particular interest.
A unique, clearly written, and logically organized volume, Public Finance Administration, Second Edition provides a comprehensive focus on the management of public funds. Ideal for the nonexpert with a public administration background, this easy-to-read new edition is updated in content and examples. Authors B. J. Reed and John W. Swain begin with a broad introduction to public finance administration, including its relationship to public budgeting, the practice of public sector accounting, and the economic concepts of money and value. Next, they cover revenues and expenditures, including how they are administered and the importance of forecasting and cost analysis. Later chapters deal with such technical areas as managing cash flow, investment, debts, risk, purchasing, capital budgets, and the financial components of human resource management. The volume includes a look at the evaluative side of public finance such as auditing, assessing financial conditions, and the emerging use of development finance. In addition, the authors point to relevant web sites on the Internet for more information on public finance administration. Filling a need for courses in public finance administration, this volume provides a public administration based approach to the subject with a highly practical orientation.
Public finance is crucial to a country’s economic growth, yet successful reform of public finances has been rare. Ethiopia is an example of a country that undertook comprehensive reform of its core financial systems, independent of the IMF and the World Bank, and successfully transformed itself into one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. With Ethiopia’s twelve-year reform as its guiding case study, this book presents new analytical frameworks to help governments develop better financial reforms. It shows in detail how four core financial systems—budgeting, accounting, planning, and financial information systems—can be reformed. One of the principal findings presented is that governments must establish basic public financial administration before moving to more sophisticated public financial management. Other key findings include the identification of four strategies of reform (recognize, improve, change, and sustain), the centrality of ongoing learning to the process of reform, and the importance of government ownership of reform. This book will be of interest to researchers and policymakers concerned with public finance, developmental economics, and African studies.
Presenting emphases on and approaches to issues such as government spending, reporting, pricing and fiscal federalism, the Handbook of Public Finance demonstrates the utility of integrating public finance theory with actual public policy practices. It discusses applications in major subfields of public finance, including public education, environmental regulation, energy policy, social welfare programs, and local and state politics. Other topics of discussion include the theory and practice of tax incidence analysis; the marginal costs of taxation and regulation, the economics of expenditure incidence, discounting and the social discount rate; passive use benefits, and public sector pricing.