In many countries around the world, local governments have considerable fiscal autonomy. They are able not only to raise revenues or spend money on their own but also to incur debt. However, the right to borrow inevitably implies the risk of insolvency and bankruptcy, which can have tremendous...

Despite the existence of strict budgetary frameworks and fiscal equalisation systems, municipal budget crisis has been a phenomenon in Germany for decades. As an institutional response, most German states implemented bailouts to restore local public finances. This chapter gives a brief...