The paper investigates the intertemporal spending behavior of Scandinavian local governments with particular attention to liquidity constraints imposed by balanced-budget-rules and other regulations. The main finding is that Danish local governments are more able to smooth current expenditures...

The amelioration of the local government efficiency in Romania as prerequisite of economy’s sustainable growth largely depends on increasing exports and improving the business environment at regional and local level, factors that can help reducing the development gap. For Romania, several...

This thesis consists of four papers, which concern horizontal as well as vertical interactions and interdependencies in a multilevel public sector. <p> In Paper [I] we study spatial spillover effects in the Swedish local rescue services. The analysis is based on a joint product model where...</p>

Even though metropolitan areas account for half of the population, and an even larger share of economic activity of OECD countries, almost no systematic information on governance structures in these areas exists. This study – based on a novel data set – gives an overview of governance...

This paper provides an overview of country specific approaches to metropolitan area governance. It provides brief descriptions of the typical structures of metropolitan governance, with a particular focus on the involved organisations. It points out metropolitan areas that have unusual...

The Woodlands (Texas) is one of the best examples of success in a public-private partnership between the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a private firm. Developed as a New Town by Mitchell Energy & Development Corporation, The Woodlands has flourished and created a...

There is now a considerable body of literature on decentralization in diverse national contexts. Ascertaining factors that drive local accountability and performance have been the key concerns of these studies. Diverse ethodological instruments and approaches have been used—from large-n...

Interest in public accountability and government transparency is increasing worldwide. The literature on the determinants of transparency is evolving but is still in its early stages. So far, it has typically focused on national or regional governments while neglecting the local government...

The demographic database of Eurostat and of Us Census of Bureau are explored and the main facts are extracted and described. This paper is completely self-standing but is also part of a more general analysis dedicated to the functioning and sustainability of pay-as-you-go to finance the welfare...

We analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a region comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighboring district, there is underprovision of public goods in both the city and...