Decentralization and Reform in Latin America - Improving Intergovernmental Relations (Hardcover)

This volume provides a splendid and wide-ranging collection of studies analyzing the political-economy of decentralization in Latin-America. It's a fascinating story with numerous and profound insights into how fiscal decentralization actually works in the context of a variety of fiscal institutions and in a setting with a high degree of inequality in the distribution of income and territorial disparities.' - Wallace E. Oates, University of Maryland, College Park US'The volume on Decentralization and Reform in Latin America is an important addition to the growing literature on decentralization. Some of the issues in the implementation and effectiveness of decentralization are similar all over the world, but there are issues of particular salience to Latin America, a region where decentralization reforms have come sometimes in the wake of major political reforms. This volume pays special attention to the complexity of issues (both relating to equity and efficiency) arising in the context of vertical fiscal imbalance and inter-governmental transfers, in the delivery of social services or investment spending, in the sharing of rent from natural resources among social and regional groups and in macro-fiscal stabilization. I expect the volume to receive widespread attention.' - Pranab Bhardan, University of California, Berkeley, US 'Giorgio Brosio and Juan Pablo Jimenez have made a remarkable job in preparing the best comprehensive treatment of comparative decentralization experiences in Latin America. It will be essential reading for analysts of fiscal and local government issues in the region and a very useful tool for Latin Americanists in general.' - Jose Antonio Ocampo, Professor, Columbia University. Former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and Finance Minister of Colombia Decentralisation and Reform in Latin America analyzes the process of intergovernmental reform in Latin America in the last two decades and presents a number of emerging issues. These include the impacts of decentralization and the response of countries in the region to challenge such as social cohesion, interregional and interpersonal disparities, the assignment of social and infrastructure expenditure, macrofinancial shocks, fiscal rules and the sharing of natural resources revenue. The main aim of the book is to assess the effective working of decentralized arrangements and institutions, with a view of suggesting corrections and reforms where the system is not working according to expectations. Policymakers, researchers and academics with an interest in subjects related to public policy, fiscal rules, intergovernmental relations, governance and decentralization will find this book invaluable. Contributors include: J.R. Afonso, E. Ahmad, V. Almeida, G. Arballo, G. Brosio, K. Castro, O. Cetrangolo, S. Dain, L. de Mello, A. Faveret, R. Gargarella, A. Goldschmit, J.C. Gomez Sabaini, V. Grembi, J.P. Jimenez, A. Manoel, J. Martinez-Vasquez, F. Rezende, C. Sepulveda, T. Ter-Minassian, J. Veloso