Closing the Gap: Fiscal Imbalances and Intergovernmental Transfers in Developed Federations

Richard Bird and Andrey V Tarasov
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Andrey V Tarasov: Department of Economics, University of Toronto, 150 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G7, Canada

Environment and Planning C, 2004, vol. 22, issue 1, 77-102

Abstract: This paper discusses the concepts of vertical fiscal imbalance (the fiscal gap) and horizontal fiscal imbalance (equalization) and uses several statistics to measure these concepts for the eight developed federal countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. Although the periods covered and the detail provided vary from country to country because of limitations in data availability, the overall coverage in this paper seems more complete and comparable than in previous studies. The paper also outlines briefly the types of intergovernmental fiscal transfers used to deal with fiscal imbalances in the eight countries under consideration. Although this account is necessarily highly condensed, given the complexity of transfer systems in most countries, the frequency with which changes are made, and the difficulty of obtaining complete information, it is nonetheless broadly accurate.

Date: 2004
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Working Paper: Closing the Gap: Fiscal Imbalaces and Intergovernmental Transfers in Developed Federations (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:22:y:2004:i:1:p:77-102

DOI: 10.1068/c0328

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