1. The Local Budget as a Complex System—Concepts and Definitions -- 2. Fiscal Sustainability in the Short and Long Runs -- 3. The Revenue Module -- 4. The Expenditure Module -- 5. Debt -- 6. Economic Development -- 7. The Feedback Loop -- 8. Sustainability and Bliss -- 9. Conclusions and...

Fiscal rules are laws aimed at reducing the incentive to accumulate debt, and many countries adopt them to discipline local governments. Yet, their effectiveness is disputed because of commitment and enforcement problems. We study their impact applying a quasi-experimental design in Italy. In...

We study how policies limiting the spending capacity of local governments may reduce corruption. We exploit the extension of one such policy, the Domestic Stability Pact (DSP), to small Italian municipalities. The DSP led to a decrease in both recorded corruption rates and corruption charges per...