Municipalities manage their budgets in a complex national, regional, and local legal framework while being under the cross-pressure between of citizens claiming for better public goods and higher-level Administrations requiring higher allocative efficiency in public spending. The legal framework...

"Exceptionally well researched and data-rich study. A brief summary chapter on recent Caribbean Basin urban trends is followed by two longer in-depth studies of Costa Rican changes (esp. in metropolitican San José) and of Guatemala City. Close attention is paid to 30-40 years of economic...