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WiSe 20/21: Fiscal Federalism: Principles and Practices (English)

Johanna Schnabel

Kommentar

Fiscal federalism is concerned with fiscal relations across levels of government in federal and decentralized countries. It is essentially about fiscal decentralization, which the OECD promotes as a means expected to improve the delivery of public services. Finances being an important source of power, the distribution of expenditures and revenues often generates political conflict. This course covers the main elements of fiscal federalism, including the distribution of expenditures and revenues, fiscal equalization systems, intergovernmental grants, and public deficits and debts. It also discusses reforms of fiscal federalism (such as the recent overhaul of fiscal equalization in Germany) and familiarizes students with the relevant databases and other sources of information on fiscal relations. While fiscal federalism can exist in unitary states as well, the focus here is on (Western) federations. We will discuss the implications of fiscal centralization in Germany and compare German fiscal federalism to fiscal federalism in countries with a high degree of fiscal decentralization such as Canada and the United States. Schließen