European countries employ heterogeneous and complex systems to regulate local government budgets. Although the topic has become increasingly relevant in the face of past and future economic and budgetary crises, there is a lack of cross-country studies in this field, due in part to the...

Fiscal decentralisation introduces the risk that subnational governments may act in a fiscally irresponsible manner in the belief that a higher tier of government will bail them out if they run into trouble. The economic literature, therefore, prescribes a strict no-bailout policy. We survey...