This book presents some basic theoretical concepts of public finance with a particular emphasis on its impact poverty reduction. Eight case studies from Latin America and Africa illustrate how these concepts are applied in practice and the implementation issues that emerge.

This study systematically investigates the development process, major characteristics and weak links of China's poverty alleviation experience and conducts a comparative analysis of poverty alleviation cases. It also accurately presents the internal logic and core elements of China's poverty alleviation theory and taking the Chinese experience of poverty alleviation refines the "Two Threads One Force" theoretical framework to make a basic judgment of the "China model" for poverty alleviation. It also presents the rationale and plans for responding to new challenges to achieve poverty alleviation goals, which will enhance the welfare of the people and promote social progress and national prosperity.

Since the 1970s, globalization has created an economic environment of interdependency between nations. Now, many countries in European and the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) regions must grapple with the need to increase public revenue while maneuvering through a global “race-to-the-bottom” tax competition. The Handbook of Research on Public Finance in Europe and the MENA Region explores economic development and public finance by providing critical insight into the use of public finance and policy and illuminating the intricacies of these topics through discussion of theory, empirical work, and policy objectives. This book is ideally designed for business professionals, policy makers, financers, students and researchers in the fields of public policy and economics.

Reforming public-sector organizations--their structures, policies, processes and practices--is notoriously difficult, in rich and poor countries alike. Even in the most favorable of circumstances, the scale and complexity of the tasks to be undertaken are enormous, requiring levels of coordination and collaboration that may be without precedent for those involved. Entirely new skills may need to be acquired by tens of thousands of people. Compounding these logistical challenges is the pervasive reality that circumstances often are not favorable to large-scale reform. Whether a country is rich or poor, the choice is not whether, but how, to reform the public sector--how optimal design characteristics, robust political support, and enhanced organizational capability to implement and adapt will be forged over time. This edited volume helps address the “how†? question. It brings together reform experiences in public financial management and the public sector more broadly from eight country cases in East Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries are at different stages of reform; most of the reform efforts would qualify as successes, while some had mixed outcomes, and others could be considered failures. The focus of each chapter is less on formally demonstrating success (or not) of specific reform, but on documenting how reformers maneuvered within different country contexts to achieve specific outcomes. Despite the great difficulty in reforming the public sector, decision-makers can draw renewed energy and inspiration, learning from those countries, sectors, and subnational spaces where substantive (not merely cosmetic) change has been achieved, and they can identify what pitfalls to avoid.

The world's agenda of international cooperation has changed. The conventional concerns of foreign affairs, international trade, and development assistance, are increasingly sharing the political center stage with a new set of issues. These include trans-border concerns such as global financial stability and market efficiency, risk of global climate change, bio-diversity conservation, control of resurgent and new communicable diseases, food safety, cyber crime and e-commerce, control of drug trafficking, and international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Globalization and increasing porosity of national borders have been key driving forces that have led to growing interdependence and interlocking of the public domains--and therefore, public policy concerns--of countries, governments, private businesses, civil society, and people at large. Thus, new and different issues are now occupying top places on national policy agendas, and consequently, on the agendas of international negotiating forums. The policy approaches to global challenges are also changing. A proliferation and diversification of international cooperation efforts include focus on financing arrangements. Financing of international cooperation in most instances is a haphazard and non-transparent process and often seems to run parallel to international negotiations. There are many unfunded mandates and many-non-mandatory funds. To agree on and to achieve international economic goals, we need to understand how financing of international cooperation efforts actually works. Our understanding is hampered by two gaps: 1) lack of an integrated and cohesive theoretical framework; 2) lack of consolidated empirical and operational knowledge in the form of a comprehensive inventory of past, current and possible future (i.e. currently deliberated) financing mechanisms. This book reduces these two gaps and provides a guide to improve our ability to finance international cooperation.

This book is a collection of working papers, policy briefs and training modules, published by the International Poverty Centre in Brazil, which provides a comprehensives set of recommendations for alternative economic policies that can generate growth, employment and poverty reduction in developing countries.

Digitization promises to reshape fiscal policy by transforming how governments collect, process, share, and act on information. More and higher-quality information can improve not only policy design for tax and spending, but also systems for their management, including tax administration and compliance, delivery of public services, administration of social programs, public financial management, and more. Countries must chart their own paths to effectively balance the potential benefits against the risks and challenges, including institutional and capacity constraints, privacy concerns, and new avenues for fraud and evasion. Support for this book and the conference on which it is based was provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “Click Download on the top right corner for your free copy..."

Applied Economics: Public Financial Management and Development is focused on economics applied to public financial management and development. It charts over 50 years of the author’s practical experience of economics and public policy in 60 countries on five continents, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The book’s main focal point is on central and local government budgeting, tracing the progress of revenue aspects and expenditure allocation over time from inputs alone to matching these inputs to achieving and measuring service delivery in programmes. It also presents the assessment instruments that measure public financial management strength and weakness, with real-life illustrations of their application. All of these instruments use examples from the countries that the author has worked in, demonstrating the conditions faced – mostly stable economic environments, but at times during periods of conflict and insecurity, as well as neighbouring geopolitical tension.These experiences have been gained from the author’s resident assignments and short-term visits (mainly multiple over many years) as a consultant for the IMF, World Bank, and bilateral development programmes as well as academic research.

The Handbook is a virtual encyclopedia of public financial management, written by topmost experts, many with a background in the IMF and World Bank. It provides the first comprehensive guide to the subject that has been published in more than ten years. The book is aimed at a broad audience of academics/students, government officials, development agencies and practitioners. It covers both bread-and-butter topics such as the macroeconomic and legal framework for budgeting, budget preparation and execution, procurement, accounting, reporting, audit and oversight, as well as specialist subjects such as government payroll systems, local government finance, fiscal transparency, the management of fiscal risks, sovereign wealth funds, the management of state-owned enterprises, and political economy aspects of budgeting. The book sets out numerous examples and case studies describing good practice in public financial management, and is highly relevant for use in both advanced and developing countries.

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