For the past fifteen years, Colombia has been engaged in a grand experiment in decentralization. Since 1986, subnational government spending has increased dramatically, as the regions have assumed greater control of health and education programs and other local services, and an increasing...

Introduction. Colombia is facing a fiscal situation featuring large and probably unsustainable projected deficits. The solution will almost certainly involve some combination of increased tax revenues and decreased expenditures. Tax revenue increases can come from either raising the rates or...

For the past fifteen years, Colombia has been engaged in a grand experiment in decentralization. Since 1986, subnational government spending has increased dramatically, as the regions have assumed greater control of health and education programs and other local services, and an increasing...

This paper analyses these payroll taxes, focusing specially on what is called the "parafiscales". The parafiscales are defined by Artivle 2 of Law 225 (1995) as "mandatory taxes established by law, which affect a certain and unique social or economic group and are used for the benefit of the...

Introduction. Colombia is facing a fiscal situation featuring large and probably unsustainable projected deficits. The solution will almost certainly involve some combination of increased tax revenues and decreased expenditures. Tax revenue increases can come from either raising the rates or...

Las marcadas restricciones constitucionales y legales, provenientes de la Carta Política de 1991, explican en buena medida las serias dificultades que enfrenta Colombia para contener su creciente gasto público, actualmente bordeando el 18% del PIB a nivel del gobierno central. A su vez, su...

El documento tiene como objetivo explicar esta situacio?n fiscal usando como lente de ana?lisis la teori?a de juegos. En particular, el documento muestra como los problemas de asimetri?as de informacio?n que existen en el proceso presupuestal permiten explicar el alto de?ficit y la baja calidad...

"The purpose of this paper is to describe the budget process reform implemented in Medellín, and to analyze its actual performance and evaluate its success. The reform is changing the way public resources are allocated and executed, while gradually institutionalizing supply and demand-side...

The rules that govern the budget process are important determinants of fiscal outcomes, with potentially important macroeconomic implications. This paper starts with a review of the theoretical underpinnings of the effects of budget processes and the main empirical evidence. After a brief...