The topic of the 43rd Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance was "Public Finance and the Performance of Enterprises." The title reflected profound changes in the thinking and approaches of economists traced back to economic developments such as the worldwide slowing down of economic growth, dwindling of productivity increases, growing unemployment, and rampant increase in public debt experienced during the 1970s and 80s. The Congress was not primarily concerned therefore with the economic efficiency of particular enterprises, but with the interface of Public Finance and the behavior of enterprises. The intent was to detect how fiscal policy decisions effect the behavior of enterprises and how this in turn influences the overall performance of an economy--to seek microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic relationships. This volume presents the proceedings of the 43rd Congress with papers from numerous international contributors.

Papers include: R.H. Haveman and V. Halberstadt "Public finance and public employment: an introduction"; "Public sector employment trends in western industrialized economies" by J.P. Martin; "Public employment in developing countries: evidence from Latin America" by F. Rezende and J. Cezar Castanhar.