Readings

ses # Topics READINGS

1

Introduction to Course

Rosen, Harvey. Public Finance. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, chapters 4 and 5. ISBN: 0072374055.

2

Justifications for Public Finance: Public Goods and Externalities

Coase, Ronald. "The Problem of Social Cost." Journal of Law and Economics 3 (1960): 1-44.

3

Ethical Frameworks

Harper, Thomas L., and Stanley M. Stein. "The Centrality of normative ethical theory to contemporary planning theory." Journal of Planning Education and Research 11 (1992): 105-116.

Stollman, Israel. "The Values of the Planner." In The Practice of Local Government Planning. Edited by Frank S. So and Judith Getzels. New York, NY: International City Management Association, 1988, pp. 503-516. ISBN: 0873260775.

4

Justifications for Public Finance: Economic Development

Aschauer, David Alan. "Is public expenditure productive?" Journal of Monetary Economics 23, no. 2 (March 1989): 177-200.

Davis, Jennifer, Alice Kang, Jeffrey Vincent, and Dale Whittington. "How Important is Improved Water Infrastructure to Microenterprises? Evidence from Uganda." World Development 29, no. 10: 1753-1767.

Black, J. Thomas, and Rita Curtis. "The Local Fiscal Effects of Growth and Commercial Development over Time." Urban Land (January, 1993): 18-21.

Recommended Readings

Holtz-Eakin, Douglas. "Public-Sector Capital and the Productivity Puzzle." Review of Economics and Statistics 76, no. 1 (1994): 12-21.

Lewis, Blaine D. "The Impact of Public Infrastructure on Municipal Economic Development: Empirical Results from Kenya." Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies 10, no. 2 (1998): 142-156.

5

The Fiscal Gap: Fiscal Health and Analysis

Blejer, Mario I., and Adrienne Cheasty. "The Measurement of Fiscal Deficits: Analytical and Methodological Issues." Journal of Economic Literature 29, no. 4 (December 1991): 1644-1678.

Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, 2001, chapters 1, 3, 8, and 9. ISBN: 158906061X.

6

The Fiscal Gap: Revenues and Expenditures

Budget Deficits and Inflation

Bahl, Roy, and Johannes Linn. Urban Public Finance in Developing Countries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992, chapters 2 and 3. ISBN: 0195208056.

Nwagwu, Emeka O. C. "Budgeting for Development: the case of Nigeria." Public Budgeting and Finance 12, no. 1 (1992): 73-82.

Alesina, Alberto, and Roberto Perotti. "Fiscal Discipline and the Budget Process." American Economic Review 86, no. 2 (1996): 401-407.

Stasavage, David, and Dambisa Moyo. "Are cash budgets a cure for excess fiscal deficits (and at what cost)?" World Development 28, no. 12 (2000): 2105-2122.

Recommended Readings

Alesina, Alberto, et. al. "Budget institutions and fiscal performance in Latin America." Journal of Development Economics 59 (1999): 253-273.

Burchell, Robert. "Fiscal Impact Analysis." In Development Impact Assessment Handbook. Edited by R. Buchell, et. al. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute 1994, chapter 8. ISBN: 0874207436.

7

Public Finance Theory: Efficiency - Optimal Taxation, Optimal User Fees

Rosen, Harvey. Public Finance. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, chapter 13. ISBN: 0072374055.

8

Efficiency (cont.)

Rosen, Harvey. Public Finance. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, chapter 14. ISBN: 0072374055.

9

Public Finance Theory: Equity, Incidence in the General Equilibrium Model

Rosen, Harvey. Public Finance. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, chapter 12. ISBN: 0072374055.

10

Incidence (cont.)

Devarajan, Shantayanan, and Shaikh I. Hossain. "The Combined Incidence of Taxes and Public Expenditure in the Philippines." World Development 26, no. 6 (1998): 963-977.

Yinger, John. "The incidence of development impact fees and special assessments." National Tax Journal 51, no. 1 (1998): 23-41.

11

Property Taxation in Developing Countries

Bahl, Roy, and Johannes Linn. Urban Public Finance in Developing Countries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992, chapters 4 and 5. ISBN: 0195208056.

12

Guest Lecture on Property Tax

Guest Speaker: Yu-Hung Hong
Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Topic: Current property Tax Reforms in China

  

13

Property Tax (cont.)

Kelly, Roy. "Designing a Property Tax Reform Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa: an Analytical Framework Applied to Kenya." Public Budgeting and Finance (Winter 2000): 36-51.

———. "Property Taxation in Indonesia: Challenges from Decentralization." Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper, WP03RK1, 2003. (PDF)

14

Tax Reform

Goode, Richard. "Tax Advice to Developing Countries: an historical review." World Development 21, no. 1 (1993): 37-53.

Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge, and Joseph Semboja. "Why People Pay Taxes: the Case of the Development Levy in Tanzania." World Development 29, no. 12 (2001): 2059-2074.

15

User Fees in Developing Countries

Bahl, Roy, and Johannes Linn. Urban Public Finance in Developing Countries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992, chapter 9. ISBN: 0195208056.

16

Intergovernmental Transfers

Bahl, Roy, and Johannes Linn. Urban Public Finance in Developing Countries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992, chapter 13. ISBN: 0195208056.

Bird, Richard, and Michael Smart. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers: International Lessons for Developing Countries." World Development 30, no. 6 (2002): 899-912.

Quigley, John M., and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. "Budget Reform and the Theory of Fiscal Federalism." American Economic Review 76, no. 2 (1986): 132-137.

17

Fiscal Federalism, Decentralization

Tiebout, Charles M. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures." Journal of Political Economy 64, no. 5 (1956): 416-424.

Oates, Wallace. E. Fiscal Federalism. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 015527452X.

Prud-homme, Remy. "Dangers of Decentralization." World Bank Research Observer 10, no. 2 (August 1995): 201-20.

18

Fiscal Federalism, Decentralization (cont.)

Case: Parry, Taryn Rounds. "Achieving Balance in Decentralization: a Case Study of Education Decentralization in Chile." World Development 25, no. 2 (1997): 211-225.

Kwon, Osung. "The Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Public Spending: the Korean Case." Public Budgeting and Finance (Winter 2003): 1-20.

Davoodi, Hamid, and Heng-fu Zou. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth: a Cross-Country Study." Journal of Urban Economics 43, no. 2 (1998): 244-257.

19

Source of Finance: Private Sector Participation

Rondinelli, Dennis A., and John D. Kasarda. "Privatization of Urban Services and Infrastructure in Developing Countries: an Assessment of Experience." Chapter 7 in Third World Cities: Problems, Policies, and Prospects. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1993. ISBN: 0803944853.

Gomez-Ibanez, Jose A., and John R. Meyer. Going Private: the International Experience with Transport Privatization. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1993. ISBN: 0815731787.

Mitchell-Weaver, Clyde, and Brenda Manning. "Public-Private Partnerships in Third World Development: a Conceptual Overview." Studies in Comparative International Development 26, no. 4 (Winter 1991-1992): 45-67.

20

Private Sector (cont.)

Estache, Antonio, Andres Gomez-Lobo, and Danny Leipziger. "Utilities Privatization and the Poor: Lessons and Evidence from Latin America." World Development 29, no. 7 (2001): 1179-1198.

La Porta, Rafael, and Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes. "The Benefits of Privatization: Evidence from Mexico." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1999): 1193-1242.

Birdsall, Nancy, and John Nellis. "Winners and Losers: Assessing the Distributional Impact of Privatization." World Development 31, no. 10 (2003): 1617-1633.

21

Case Study of Private Sector Participation

Walder, Jay. "The Tribasa Toll Road Trust." Kennedy School of Government Case Program, CR 15-99-1485.0. Cambridge, MA: Kennedy School of Government, 1998.

22

Source of Finance: International Lending Agencies: Programming Assistance, Conditionalities, Debt, Inflation, Structural Adjustment

Hanlon, Joseph. "How Much Debt must be Cancelled?" Journal of International Development 12 (2000): 877-901.

Toye, John. "Fiscal Crisis and Fiscal Reform in Developing Countries." Cambridge Journal of Economics 24 (2000): 21-44.

23

International Lending (cont.)

"World Bank Lending Instruments: Resources for Development Impact." World Bank Booklet. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001.

24

MicroFinance History and Design

Morduch, Jonathan. "The Microfinance Schism." World Development 28, no. 4 (2000): 617-629.

Tsai, Kellee S. "Imperfect Substitutes: the local political economy of informal finance and microfinance in rural China and India." World Development 32, no. 9 (2004): 1487-1507.

25

MicroFinance Case

Stuart, Guy. "A Commercial Bank does Microfinance: Sogesol in Haiti." Kennedy School of Government Case Program, CR 16-02-1657, 2002. Cambridge, MA: Kennedy School of Government, 2002.

26

Final Exam