Fiscal federalism in the European Union

Abstract:

'Fiscal federalism in the European Union' considers the extent to which local and regional governments in the European Union should be allowed to determine their own fiscal policies. The question of whether activities such as resource allocation, income distribution and stabilisation policies should be carried out by central government alone or should be distributed among the various levels of government is of great relevance to many countries, and is of increasing interest for economists and politicians alike. The book combines theoretical and empirical analysis in addressing issues such as what sort of fiscal federalism is appropriate in the European Community, what are the dangers of more centralisation and what are the costs of greater decentralisation. Most of the essays in this collection were presented at the conference 'Fiscal Federalism in Europe', organised by the University of Genova and held in Imperia in May 1997.
The book is divided into two parts. The three chapters in the first present: a comparative view of local finances in EU member countries; developing fiscal federalism in Eastern Europe and stabilisation policy in the European Monetary Union and fiscal federalism. In the second part, individual EU countries are examined, covering: fiscal federalism in Austria: facts and new developments; local government in Denmark; local taxation and intergovernmental fiscal relations in France; experiences with German fiscal federalism: how to preserve the decentral content; local government in Great Britain; towards fiscal federalism in Italy; fiscal federalism in Spain and a survey of constitutional issues, budget responsibility and equalisation with regard to fiscal federalism in Switzerland.

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