This book examines the impacts of fiscal decentralization reforms on the efficiency of local governments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. By offering a comparative perspective and by applying econometric methods and regression models, it analyses various reform trajectories and their effects on individual CEE countries. Furthermore, the book discusses input and output indicators for evaluating the efficiency of municipalities. Readers will learn about the common features of these countries, the impact of path dependence, and future prospects for decentralization reforms. In closing, the book discusses modern management and administration methods, opportunities for cooperation between municipalities, co-creative service delivery, and other measures that could improve the efficiency of public service provision.

This book is based upon a comparative public administration research project, initiated by the Hertie School of Governance (Germany) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) and supported by a network of researchers from many EU countries. It analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries. The book brings together key findings of this research project. The regulatory discussion is not limited to the prominent issue of fiscal rules but focuses on every component of regulation. Beyond this, the book covers affiliated topics such as the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention. The various book chapters throughout provide a broad picture of local public finance regulation in theory and in practice, using different theoretical and national lenses for the analysis. Furthermore, the authors investigate the effects of budgetary constraints and higher-level regulatory efforts on local governments and on democracy and public services in every European country. This book fills a gap with respect to the lack of discussion on local government finance from an international, comparative perspective and, in particular, the regulation of local public finance. With its mix of authors, this book will be useful for practitioners as well as for scholars and for theory-driven research.

'...the book contains a good deal of useful information about local government finance in Europe.' - John Fender, Local Government Studies '...I would like to thank you for publishing the great book Local Public Finance in Europe. It is a rare source of institutional information and also great insights on the subject.' - Andrey Timofeev, Georgia State University, US 'In respect of the hard budget constraint imposed by the stability pact for Maastricht...and the fact that European central governments can no longer bail out sub-federal obligations for more than 3% deficit to GNP annually and 60% debt to GDP...the volume edited by B. Dafflon is important and highly welcome.... Insofar, it represents an interesting and important milestone in the evaluation of the success of local budget rules in European countries.' - C.A. Schaltegger, Kyklos Most countries apply some form of restrictions to local government budgeting and borrowing, but in various forms and to varying degrees. These restrictions are considered necessary components of a fiscal federalism involving some sort of central government control in local affairs, a design which can be termed 'administrative federalism'. In this comprehensive book Bernard Dafflon introduces the reader to the institutional complexities of fiscal controls in European local public finance. The authors comprehensively explore the issues of government budgeting and borrowing, with the ultimate aim of understanding how mechanisms of fiscal discipline are established and function. Ten European countries are scrutinised on the basis of ten key issues including local budgetary policy-making, the policy effects of local budget deficits and public debt, the rules of amortisation and debt instalment, whether extensive fiscal controls promote budget accountability and discipline, and how the Maastricht criteria concerning deficit and debt can be implemented. They go on to highlight the complicated mix of rules, administrative routines and co-operative arrangements through which each country implements their individual budget controls. Although these arrangements have been successful in avoiding serious fiscal imbalance in the last twenty years, the authors argue that their impact on the broader goals of the government sector remains a more contentious question. This book offers a broad understanding of the rich institutional variations and elaborate fiscal designs in Europe from a comparative perspective. It will be welcomed by political scientists, public sector managers and economists, and scholars, practitioners and advanced students of public policy and fiscal studies.

This book examines the democratic changes that took place in civil society in Central and Eastern Europe after the break up of the Soviet Union.

Demonstrates that the success of local development strategies depends on the capacity of the government and its partners to accelerate change within the policy and governance aspects of economic and social development.