Suchergebnisse

This paper evaluates reforms in the structure of intergovernmental relations in Eastern Europe since the breakup of the Soviet Union, focusing on eight recent EU accession countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It reviews each country's response to the economic and political upheavals of the immediate post-Soviet era and their gradual convergence on a common "eastern European model" of intergovernmental relations

This paper evaluates reforms in the structure of intergovernmental relations in Eastern Europe since the breakup of the Soviet Union, focusing on eight recent EU accession countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It reviews each country's response to the economic and political upheavals of the immediate post-Soviet era and their gradual convergence on a common "eastern European model" of intergovernmental relations.

This report investigates how these problems [déficit and decentralization] arose in Argentina and Brazil as they sought to decentralize in the 1980s and how each country dealt with them. We seek to understand the institutional arrangements -fiscal and political- that contributed to success or failure. ; Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas

This note summarizes the chronology of the state debt crisis and the efforts by the Brazilian government to resolve it. It also describes the World Banks efforts to assist in this process through state level adjustment loans. It concludes with lessons. A technical appendix, detailing the loan conditionahty and disbursement mechanism used in the adjustment loans, is attached. ; Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas

Regional economic development is an interest of policymakers throughout the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. One of its principal aims is to reduce poverty in lagging regions by stimulating local economic growth. However, problems exist with this approach. First, it may miss the target. Although geographical concentrations of poverty exist, poor people also live in regions that are-on average-rich. Second, the sources of the problem may be misdiagnosed. Poverty is not only related to where people are, but to who people are. In ECA, poverty is associated with low levels of education and pe

In the 1980s, Argentina and Brazil faced similar problems, with subnational deficits adding to excess public deficits and high inflation. In the 1990s both countries continued with fiscal decentralization and with the struggle to bring about macroeconomic stability. At least up to 1998, Argentina had greater success, partly because the country imposed a harder budget constraint on the public sector at the national level and partly because it had stronger party control of the subnational governments and of the national legislators. For restraining local and state borrowing, getting the right incentives for subnational governments and particularly for their creditors proved more effective, in Argentina, than central government rules, in Brazil. ; Departamento de Economía

Faced with changing economic circumstances and a reorientation of trade toward Europe and Asia, will Eurasia's cities be able to adjust? Will some cities be granted the flexible regulations and supportive policies necessary for growth? And will some others be allowed to dwindle with policies put in place to assist their people in finding prosperity elsewhere in the region?Eurasian Cities: New Realities along the Silk Road responds to pressing questions for policy makers in Eurasian cities and national governments in the region. Building on the insights of the World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography, it provides an economic and policy framework to unleash the growth potential of these cities through a process of rethinking, planning, connecting, greening, and financing these changes in the right way. While Eurasian cities diverge in some respects, they also face similar challenges. Policy makers have a key role to play in assisting spatial restructuring, particularly in addressing imperfect information and coordination failures. Eurasian cities will also have to find the right balance between markets and institutions to become sustainable. For Eurasia to grow sustainably, securing accessibility to leading regional markets such as China, the European Union, India, and the Russian Federation is critical. This process will require key institutions to be developed to unite the countries, key connective infrastructures to be established between domestic and regional markets, and targeted interventions to be undertaken to compensate countries for short-term losses from this deepened economic cooperation. This book will be of interest to policy makers, economists, and government officials interested in growing Eurasian cities.