The paper reconsiders the theory of fiscal federalism in a framework inspired by property-rights theory. We set up a two-period model where on a first stage a region in a federation can expend value-enhancing investments into a public project. The project can be implemented on a second stage,...

Recently Germany experienced yet another federal reform shortly after a previous modification to the German federal system. This paper explains agenda setting, negotiations and ratification of this recent federal reform. With regards to the case of the most recent federal reform in Germany the...

This paper deals with interbudgetary relations and subnational finances in the Russian Federation. The authors focus on major trends in relations between budgets of different levels, measures taken by the federal government to mitigate the crisis impact on the regions

This Article exposes a misapplication of federalism as the driving force behind the Supreme Court's extreme narrowing of the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 remedy for beneficiaries of federal-state cooperative spending programs. Originally, the Court applied a presumption, via § 1983's straightforward...

This paper links the foreign economic engagement of India's states with the literature on federalism, thereby contributing to an understanding of the political economy of FDI inflows in a parliamentary federal system. More specifically, it studies subnational governments' international...

In response to recessions beginning in 1975, 2001, and 2007, the federal government provided financial aid to states with the dual goals of stabilizing state finances and stimulating the economy. The timing of fund provision and the ultimate allocation of funds were often less than optimal. The...

Kido, Petacchi and Weber [2012] investigate whether the occurrence of a state gubernatorial election is important to understanding the accrual choices of preparers of the state's comprehensive annual financial report. Central to the authors' argument is the idea that voters do not like budget...

This paper contributes to an agenda that views the effects of policies and institutional reforms as dependent on the structure of political incentives for national and subnational political actors. The paper studies political incentive structures at the subnational level and the mechanisms...

In many countries occur problems from unfunded mandates related to a shift of a function by an upper tier of government to lower rank governments without providing the lower one with financial means to perform these functions. The authors define the unfunded mandates and clarify how they relate...