Using a novel dataset on local government debt and house prices in California, this paper finds that the rise in house prices caused an expansion in local governments debt in the early 2000s. The elasticity between local government debt and house prices, estimated using cross-sectional variation in the share of developable land from Saiz (2010), suggest that a percentage point rise in house pri...

Issued by local government financing vehicles and backed mostly by land sales, Chengtou bonds are an important source of financing for Chinese local governments. We identify large heterogeneity in Chengtou bond yields, which is not supposed to exist since they are implicitly guaranteed by the central government. We find that corruption in China has a significant effect on local government credi...

In Germany, financial pressure and a lack of efficiency have caused the need for several reform processes in the local governments of German municipalities. These local governments are facing a growing contradiction between decreasing levels of financial support and increasing responsibilities. In order to address this tension, municipalities are starting to change their accounting systems by i...

points z z The UK system of government is one of the most centralized in the developed world. As a result, local governments have very few powers when it comes to tax regulation, while their policy choices are constrained by tightly controlled expenditure mandates. z z Nevertheless, there is evidence that local party control does matter. A switch from Conservative to Labour Party control usuall...

This note discusses the interface between community-driven development (CDD) and decentralization. In particular, it focuses on the aspects of decentralization programs related to local government capacity building, where the practical application of CDD principles becomes meaningful. The note considers how the principles of CDD are being incorporated into local government capacity building pro...

This article presents a monitoring indicators system that predicts whether a local government in Taiwan is heading for fiscal distress and identifies a suitable fiscal policy that would allow the local government to achieve fiscal balance in the long run. This system is relevant to stockholders’ interest, simple for national audit bodies to use, and provides an early warning of fiscal distress ...

This study assessed the status of the availability and performance of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) in 12 functional public health facilities out of the existing 19 in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State in south-south Nigeria, prior to the midwives service scheme (MSS) launch in 2009. No facility qualified as basic EmOC, while one had comprehensive EmOC status. Signal functions that...

The study examined agrobiodiversity conservation techniques adopted by rural farmers in Kware Local Government Area, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to arrive at 120 farmers from three selected villages. Forty (40) interview schedule were administered in each of the sampled villages. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the primary data collected. Results of the findings s...