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Governments own a vast array of real property--from large stretches of land to public housing projects, from water distribution systems and roads to office buildings. Typically, management of public property is highly fragmented, with responsibility for each type of asset falling within a different agency or bureaucracy. In almost all countries, different classes of property are managed according to their own rules, often following traditional practices rather than any assessment of what type of management is appropriate. Over the past decade, however, a new discipline has emerged that examines this important component of public wealth and seeks to apply standards of economic efficiency and ...
An argument that operational urban planning can be improved by the application of the tools of urban economics to the design of regulations and infrastructure. Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground—the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative—“sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient”—often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings. In this book, ...
Increased global demand for land posits the need for well-designed country-level land policies to protect long-held rights, facilitate land access and address any constraints that land policy may pose for broader growth. While the implementation of land reforms can be a lengthy process, the need to swiftly identify key land policy challenges and devise responses that allow the monitoring of progress, in a way that minimizes conflicts and supports broader development goals, is clear. The Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) makes a substantive contribution to the land sector by providing a quick and innovative tool to monitor land governance at the country level. The LGAF offers a comp...
With decentralization and urbanization, the debts of state and local governments and of quasi-public agencies have grown in importance. Rapid urbanization in developing countries requires large-scale infrastructure financing to help absorb influxes of rural populations. Borrowing enables state and local governments to capture the benefits of major capital investments immediately and to finance infrastructure more equitably across multiple generations of service users. With debt comes the risk of insolvency. Subnational debt crises have reoccurred in both developed and developing countries. Restructuring debt and ensuring its sustainability confront moral hazard and fiscal incentives in a mul...
Volume 1: Creating A Financial Framework Financial policies, planning and citizen participation are cross-cutting topics that imingpact all aspects of local government decision-making. This volume provides decision makers with a basic financial foundation and will be especially useful for policy makers and chief executive officers. Sections: Financial Policy Making; Financial Planning; Citizen Participation; Evaluating Financial Condition Volume 2: Managing the Operating Budget The short-term operating budget and long-term capital investment plans are the engines that drive local government. The operating budget is the primary mechanism for providing public services and demonstrating account...
This book helps readers understand the basic concept of asset management; explains systems, tools, and procedures; and provides models and guidance for strategically managing assets, establishing systems and asset registers, and applying life-cycle-based asset operation and maintenance.
This study identifies priority areas for India's policymakers as they try to harness economic efficiency and manage spatial equity associated with urbanization.
A guide to innovative sources of revenues and finance to increase investment opportunities in infrastructure and conserve public resources.
This book challenges the conventional wisdom that informal institutions—networks, clientelism, and connections—have to disappear in modern societies due to liberalization of the economy, rapid urbanization, and industrialization. The case of Kazakhstan shows that informal reciprocal institutions continue to play an important role in people’s everyday lives. Liberalization of the economy and state retrenchment from the social sphere decreased the provision of public goods and social support to the population in the post-independence period. Limited access to state benefits has, in turn, stimulated people’s engagement in informal reciprocal relations. The author investigates informal channels and mechanisms people use to gain access to quality public goods—education, housing, and healthcare. Comparing the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, the author shows that people are more likely to rely on family networks and clientelist relations rather than on help from the state to obtain scarce resources. The book provides an important contribution to the literature on informal institutions and explains the relationship between a formal welfare state and informal reciprocity.
This book tells a fascinating story on municipal finances for local government practitioners with rich examples, global practices, and good and bad experiences the authors gained in decades of field work.