Over 330 million people live in India’s 5,165 cities, with 35 cities having a population of over a million. Three (Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata) of the 10 largest metropolises in the world are in India. Over two-thirds of GDP originates in urban agglomerations in the country. However, urban...

This paper reviews the evolution and current state of subnational taxation in five large emerging countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Nigeria – BRIC plus one. As these case studies show, intergovernmental fiscal relations in any country are inevitably both path-dependent and...

This paper first restates the lessons to be learned from Richard Musgrave’s pioneering discussion of the tax assignment issue. Next, it considers subsequent developments in the theory of fiscal federalism related to the issue of tax assignment. Surprisingly little clear guidance is offered by...

More effective taxation of agriculture is central to the development issue. An OLS cross-country regression across developing countries shows that every one percent increase in the share of agriculture in value addition lowers the tax/GDP ratio by a little over one-third of one percent, after...

Although there are obvious differences in the political systems of China and India, there are surprising similarities in their respective approaches to decentralization. Both countries face similar design issues with their intergovernmental systems, such as the lack of clear expenditure...

The paper addresses issues which hamper the functioning of the local governments in India. In view of the fact more independence has been given to these institutions, there is room for more discussion about their efficient and equitable operations. The major issue is that State governments...

The year 1991-92 was one of the toughest years for the Indian economy. All the macroeconomic indicators became adverse. The overall economic growth slumped to a mere 1.1%. The gross fiscal deficit stood at 8 % of the GDP and the revenue deficit on the current account at 3.5 % in 1990-91. Prices...