After studying the nature and variety of transition in 10 regional capitals of Russia, the authors observe that: 1) All cities have experienced radical changes in their institutions and economies - changes associated on the one hand with the abolition of central planning and the introduction of...

Around the world, in both developed and developing countries, policy makers use a variety of tools to manage and accommodate urban growth and redevelopment. Government officials have three main concerns in terms of land policy: (i) accommodating urban expansion, (ii) providing infrastructure,...

Fiscal equalization programs are fairly common features of intergovernmental fiscal relations in industrial countries. Some developing countries have also recently introduced these programs and still others are contemplating such programs. Institutional arrangements for fiscal equalization vary...

Municipal land sales provide one option for financing urban infrastructure investment. In countries where land is owned by the public sector, land is by far the most valuable asset on the municipal balance sheet. Selling land or long-term leasing rights to land use while investing the proceeds...

Efforts to increase the responsiveness and accountability of local governments -- as well as fiscal constraints at the central level -- have prompted an interest in reviving the urban property tax as a major source of municipal revenue. At present, the urban property tax is the most widely used...

The authors consider the malaise with the present set-up of fiscal federalism in Mexico from the points of view of the main players-the federal government, the states, the municipalities, and the citizen voters-in order to identify the areas of potential common interest as well as the direct...

The author presents an overview of intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems used in nine developing and industrial countries, and draws implications for other developing countries. On the basis of a comparison of these countries, the author classifies equalization transfer formulas into four...

The property tax is a potentially attractive means of financing municipal government in developing countries. As a revenue source, it can provide local government with access to a broad and expanding tax base. At present, however, yields of urban property taxes in developing countries are...

Recently there has been a surge in international empirical evidence that national policymakers allocate resources across regions based on political considerations, in addition to any normative considerations of equity and efficiency. In order to mitigate these political compulsions, several...

Efforts to make it easier for firms to register formally are the most common form of business regulatory reform over the past decade. While there is evidence that large reforms have resulted in some increases in registration rates, recent experimental evidence suggests very few informal firms...