Debt in service of the state -- States and the limits of borrowing -- Democratization and globalization -- Caveat emptor -- Managing problem debts -- Successful consolidation -- Warfare to welfare -- Cycles of debt -- Oil and water -- Missed opportunities -- Debt to the rescue -- COVID-19.

This volume showcases for the first time in the Clarendon Ancient History Series one of the best-known prose authors of classical Athens: Xenophon. Poroi (or, Revenue-Sources) was the final work of his large and varied output, written in the mid-350s BCE at a time when Athens had failed to...

This paper investigates the effect of fiscal transparency on market assessments of sovereign risk, as measured by credit ratings. It measures this effect through a direct channel (uncertainty reduction) and an indirect channel (better fiscal policies and outcomes), and it differentiates between...

The paper surveys the role of financial markets and fiscal institutions in the transformation process going on in Eastern and Central Europe. It highlights (a) the need to create some sort of “social ecological balance” necessary for the working of a modern market economy; (b) the need to...

Despite progress in addressing key fiscal weaknesses in many countries, significant policy challenges remain in advanced, emerging, and low-income economies, and must be faced in an environment where downside risks to growth have increased. Many advanced economies face very large adjustment...

The internal audit function has received increasing attention as an important component of government financial management and a tool for improving the performance of the government sector. Recently, a consensus has been reached on what audit standards governments should meet. This paper reviews...