This major Handbook addresses fiscal relations between different levels of government under the general rubric of `fiscal federalism’, providing a review of the latest literature as well as an invaluable guide for practitioners and policy makers seeking informed policy options.

Contents: Foreword Introduction: Fiscal Federalism – A Review of Developments in the Literature and Policy Ehtisham Ahmad and Giorgio Brosio PART I: APPROACHES TO FISCAL FEDERALISM 1. The Political Economy of Decentralization Ben Lockwood 2. Horizontal Competition Among Governments Pierre Salmon 3. Modelling Vertical Competition Albert Breton 4. Spatial Interactions Among Governments Frederico Revelli 5. Asymmetric Federalism and the Political Economy of Decentralization Roger D. Congleton 6. Functional, Overlapping and Competing Jurisdictions (FOCJ): A Complement and Alternative to Today’s Federalism Reiner Eichenberger and Bruno S. Frey 7. Contract Federalism Paul Bernd Spahn PART II: DECENTRALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT 8. Decentralization and Development Pranab Bardhan 9. Fiscal Federalism in Planned Economies Govinda Rao 10. Decentralization and Service Delivery Junaid Ahmad, Shantayanan Devarajan, Stuti Khemani and Shekhar Shah PART III: IMPLEMENTING MULTILEVEL FISCAL SYSTEMS 11. The Assignment of Functions to Decentralized Government: From Theory to Practice Bernard Dafflon 12. Normative Versus Positive Theories of Revenue Assignments in Federations Maria Flavia Ambrosiano and Massimo Bordignon 13. Tax Competition in a Federal Setting John D. Wilson 14. Intergovernmental Redistributive Transfers: Efficiency and Equity Robin Boadway 15. On the Implementation of Transfers to Subnational Governments Ehtisham Ahmad and Bob Searle 16. Subnational Public Financial Management: Institutions and Macroeconomic Considerations Ehtisham Ahmad, Maria Albino-War and Raju Singh PART IV: EMERGING ISSUES 17. The Assignment of Revenue from Natural Resources Giorgio Brosio 18. Decentralization and the Environment Silvana Dalmazzone 19. Corruption and Decentralized Public Governance Anwar Shah 20. Fiscal Federalism and National Unity Richard M. Bird and Robert D. Ebel 21. Institutions of Federalism and Decentralized Government Brian Galligan Index

'This volume provides comprehensive coverage of fiscal federalism by some of the leading scholars in the field. . . This Handbook is an excellent addition to the present discourse on the role of the state in fiscal matters. This reviewer would recommend this book as a required text for a graduate or senior class on public finance or economic development. Researchers in economic development, public finance, and fiscal policy likewise would find this volume useful. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.'