Emanuele Padovani

Local Public Finance in Europe

Local governments are relevant for countries' economies and have proved to be extremely relevant for society during the recent 2008/2009 financial crisis. But little research is available about local finance from an international comparative perspective. An international project report by Bertelsmann Stiftung and Hertie School of Governance of Berlin, Germany, is now available and covers 23 countries, 19 of which belong to the EU. Country reports provide answer to such questions as: (1) What is the administrative structure of the country at whole and of the local level in particular? (2) By which sources local governments are funded? (3) For which functions do they spend their financial means? (4) How is the current fiscal status of the local government level in the respective country? (5) Which repercussions did the financial crisis unfold on local public finance? (6) How do states supervise and regulate local budgets? The report is available here, while more information about the ongoing project is available here.