In India an important policy initiative has been the devolution of financial responsibilities to village level local governments called the Panchayats. The Preamble to this initiative is two fold. First such devolution would not only lead to increased public expenditure but also such...

This paper examines the design of the fiscal 'equalisation', or 'balancing', arrangements introduced in Indonesia in 2001, when many functions were devolved from the central to regional governments. This new and needlessly complex system of fiscal transfers was introduced hurriedly, and lacked...

This paper models the behavior of states in a federal country wising to attract foreign firms to locate within their own individual jurisdictions. The essential intertemporal character of this decision is modeled as a multi-stage game to attract such foreign investment in these states. It is...

Matching mechanisms have been proposed to mitigate underprovision of public goods in voluntary contribution models. This paper investigates Pareto-improving equilibria under various matching schemes with two heterogeneous players. First, this matching mechanism avoids free riding and each player...

This paper presents a broad overview of fiscal issues confronting developing countries. Three of these are (i) developing countries have low tax/GDP and expenditure/GDP ratios compared to developed countries, even though developing countries need more public expenditure; (ii) developing country...

This paper offers an empirical analysis of the proposal by some developing countries for an agricultural Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) in the World Trade Organization. It draws on political economy and market theory to demonstrate that the loss-averting domestic producer benefits that...

In 1977 Sri Lanka was the first of the South Asian countries to decisively move away from the protectionist import-substitution trade policies that for many years had damaged their economic efficiency and hobbled their economic growth. Albeit with back-tracking episodes, Sri Lanka's liberalising...

This paper examines the export experience of China and other East Asian economies in the aftermaths of the global financial crisis against the backdrop of pre-crisis trade patterns. The analysis is motivated by the 'decoupling' thesis, which was a popular theme in the Asian policy circles in the...

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, is arguably the most durable and successful regional grouping in the developing world. Established in 1967, it has contributed greatly to regional harmony and prosperity. The Association is characterized by great internal diversity,...

This paper examines the impact of the Australia-Thailand free trade agreement (TAFTA) on bilateral trade between the two countries, paying attention to the implications of rules of origins (RoO) and the utilization of tariff preferences. It is found that trade has expanded faster following TAFTA...