As part of the Global Lab on Metropolitan Strategic Planning this webinar examines grant-financing regimes faced by metropolitan areas. Specifically, it examines their role in facilitating or hindering improvements in economic and social outcomes of residents of metropolitan areas. A review of 42 large metropolitan areas worldwide shows that, with a few notable exceptions, metropolitan areas in general are hamstrung from playing their potential role in economic advancement. Metro areas have large economic bases and therefore little a priori needs for grant financing, yet they have strong dependence on central transfers. This is because of the highly constrained fiscal autonomy given to these areas, especially in developing countries, with the singular exception of metro areas in China. Such a strong reliance on transfers undermines local autonomy and local accountability. The presentation proposes that results based grant financing of social and transportation services and tournament based approaches to encourage inter-jurisdictional competition need to be given serious consideration to ensure metropolitan autonomy while strengthening citizen based accountability.
About the speaker: Anwar Shah (Ph.D. economics) is Director of the Centre for Public Economics,SWUFE, Chengdu/Wenjiang, China and non-resident senior fellow at Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA. He also serves as an advisor/consultant to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank . He has previously served the World Bank, Ministry of Finance, Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the US Agency for International Development and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has published more than two dozen books and numerous articles in leading economics and public economics journals on governance, federalism, local governance, fiscal reforms and global climate change issues. His recent books include Fiscal Federalism (with Robin Boadway), by the Cambridge University Press, The Practice of Fiscal Federalism: Comparative Perspectives, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, Local Governance in Developing Countriesand Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption by the World Bank.
Calendar » Webinar on Metropolitan Finance
Webinar on Metropolitan Finance
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Grant Financing of Metropolitan Areas: A Review of Principles and Worldwide Practices | e-Institute
DESCRIPTION
As part of the Global Lab on Metropolitan Strategic Planning
this webinar examines grant-financing regimes faced by metropolitan areas.
Specifically, it examines their role in facilitating or hindering improvements
in economic and social outcomes of residents of metropolitan areas. A review of
42 large metropolitan areas worldwide shows that, with a few notable exceptions,
metropolitan areas in general are hamstrung from playing their potential role in
economic advancement. Metro areas have large economic bases and therefore little
a priori needs for grant financing, yet they have strong dependence on central
transfers. This is because of the highly constrained fiscal autonomy given to
these areas, especially in developing countries, with the singular exception of
metro areas in China. Such a strong reliance on transfers undermines local
autonomy and local accountability.
The presentation proposes that results
based grant financing of social and transportation services and tournament based
approaches to encourage inter-jurisdictional competition need to be given
serious consideration to ensure metropolitan autonomy while strengthening
citizen based accountability.
About the
speaker:
Anwar Shah (Ph.D. economics) is Director of the Centre
for Public Economics,SWUFE, Chengdu/Wenjiang, China and non-resident senior
fellow at Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA. He also serves as an
advisor/consultant to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank . He has
previously served the World Bank, Ministry of Finance, Government of Canada, the
Government of Alberta, the US Agency for International Development and the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He has published more than two
dozen books and numerous articles in leading economics and public economics
journals on governance, federalism, local governance, fiscal reforms and global
climate change issues. His recent books include Fiscal Federalism (with Robin
Boadway), by the Cambridge University Press, The Practice of Fiscal Federalism:
Comparative Perspectives, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, Local
Governance in Developing Countriesand Performance Accountability and Combating
Corruption by the World Bank.