Malaysia has grown and changed a great deal since it was formed on 16 September 1963. It was then seen as an unlikely nation hastily put together as a federation of British controlled territories in the region. Brunei's refusal to join at the eleventh hour and Singapore's secession before its second birthday only seemed to confirm such doubts.Yet, it has not only survived, but even thrived, often cited as a developing country worthy of emulation. Ruled by the same ruling coalition since the mid-1950s, it has been tempting to emphasize continuities, and there certainly have been many.Looking back at its last half century, this volume first considers changes in development policy in response to national as well as international developments. The remaining three parts consider how public policy has been influenced by and has, in turn, influenced economic distribution, public finance and economic federalism.Besides the familiar focus on ethnic disparities, regional and other distribution issues are considered. The discussion of government taxation as well as spending also focuses on distribution implications. Although constitutionally a federation, Malaysia has been more centralized than most federal states.The way forward requires greater sensitivity to the complex political economy of Malaysia's unlikely, but nonetheless resilient federation and ruling coalition.This book is published and distributed worldwide by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd except Malaysia.

Malaysia has grown and changed a great deal since it was formed on 16 September 1963. It was then seen as an unlikely nation hastily put together as a federation of British controlled territories in the region. Brunei's refusal to join at the eleventh hour and Singapore's secession before its second birthday only seemed to confirm such doubts.Yet, it has not only survived, but even thrived, often cited as a developing country worthy of emulation. Ruled by the same ruling coalition since the mid-1950s, it has been tempting to emphasize continuities, and there certainly have been many.Looking back at its last half century, this volume first considers changes in development policy in response to national as well as international developments. The remaining three parts consider how public policy has been influenced by and has, in turn, influenced economic distribution, public finance and economic federalism.Besides the familiar focus on ethnic disparities, regional and other distribution issues are considered. The discussion of government taxation as well as spending also focuses on distribution implications. Although constitutionally a federation, Malaysia has been more centralized than most federal states.The way forward requires greater sensitivity to the complex political economy of Malaysia's unlikely, but nonetheless resilient federation and ruling coalition.This book is published and distributed worldwide by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd except Malaysia.

This paper examines how regional disparities have evolved in Russia and how Russia’s system of intergovernmental fiscal relations is managing these disparities. Regional disparities have fallen over the past two decades but remain relatively high. Socioeconomic outcomes remain worse in lagging regions despite faster growth and convergence in income levels. The twin shocks of COVID-19 and lower oil prices appear to have impacted richer regions disproportionately. Compared to other large countries with federal systems of government, Russia stands out with its high reliance on direct taxes as a revenue source for its regions. Transfers from the federal budget to the regions provide some redistribution by reducing the dispersion in real per capita fiscal spending, but also tend to be associated with lower growth. The Russian fiscal system offers degrees of redistribution and risk sharing of around 26 and 18 percent, respectively—with in-kind social transfers contributing the most. Finally, federal transfers in the aggregate tend to be procyclical and are also fairly unresponsive to shocks to regions’ own revenues.