<i>'. . . the book is coherent and engaging throughout, with each contributor offering the reader valuable insights into the various forces shaping their chosen country of study. . . this is an important book, which will engage and indeed possibly help to define continuing debates in development studies into the future. . . The authors have produced a book which will be of particular interest to policy analysts looking at intergovernmental finance and to those concerned with political legitimacy and governance, especially in relation to the countries profiled here, though it will also prove useful to those looking at issues around globalization and tools used by institutions such as the World Bank in its promotion.'</i>
- BreffnI Lennon, Progress in Development Studies,
Through a series of case studies, the countries of Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Russia, Spain and Switzerland are examined with an eye to how their public finances are structured and how these arrangements act to promote equilibrium or turmoil in the nation state. This is the first detailed consideration of the link between asymmetry and intergovernmental finance, as well as the first detailed study of how asymmetrical fiscal arrangements work in practice in a variety of different countries.
Policy analysts concerned with intergovernmental finance and/or political legitimacy issues will find this synthesis of interest, as will readers concerned with the public policy of the many fiscally fragmented countries profiled here.