We analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a country consisting of a large number of heterogeneous regions, each comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighbouring district,...

This paper provides some elements to explain the observed takeover in some urban areas of a new kind of elite associated with new economy jobs, also known as "bourgeois bohème" (bobos). This takeover has been associated with greater investment in urban amenities and "clean" means of transport,...

We analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a country consisting of a large number of heterogeneous regions, each comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighboring district,...

This case examines the issues surrounding the expansion of utility services for a Florida city. Students are required to examine alternative financing options available and the economic impact and hardship that citizens from different regions of the city will potentially bear under alternative...

We re-evaluate two forms of fiscal illusion in local public finance: debt illusion and renter illusion. The Ricardian Equivalence Theorem for local governments suggests the form of finance of a public program (tax or debt finance) has no effects on substantive outcomes. For the local case, this...

We study local tax competition when municipalities can voluntarily cooperate with neighboring jurisdictions. In France, the strongest form of cooperation among municipalities occurs by forming an “establishment for inter-municipal cooperation” with tax power (EIMC). Joining an EIMC amounts...

We develop a PD model (PD – probability of default) for sub-sovereign entities, namely UK municipalities. Our methodology serves as an alternative for banks that use the standardised approach or scorecard-based models for assessing the probability of default for municipalities, local...

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) of 1992 imparts on local government a constitutional status by introducing new institutions into the deepening of Indian democracy. Several significant innovations in existing functions were introduced through decentralization in order to...

The conventional wisdom is that big jurisdictions set higher tax rates than small jurisdictions. We show that this result is due to simplifying assumptions: the tax base is only mobile to a single competitor and the sensitivity of the base is constant. In the presence of multiple jurisdictions...

Competition at the subnational level concerns how jurisdictions set tax, spending, or regulatory policies while accounting for the fact that these policies affect the locations of individuals, firms and mobile factors. This paper highlights the importance of studying subnational competition and...