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Fiscal Decentralization in Developing and Transitional Economies 2001

The Fiscal Decentralization Course provided a detailed overview of the theoretical and applied dimensions of intergovernmental fiscal relations, including expenditure assignments, revenue assignments, transfers, and subnational borrowing. The course also included an intensive computer modeling component with particular emphasis on techniques for simulating the assignment of expenditure responsibilities, revenue sources and intergovernmental transfer schemes.

In addition, the fiscal decentralization course reviewed a number of fiscal decentralization policies in developing and transition economies. Additional lectures focused on specific fiscal policy issues, such as sharing responsibilities for education between different levels of government, revenue opportunities for subnational governments, and stimulating regional economic growth through tax incentives and subsidies. The participants further had the opportunity to visit the DeKalb Country Tax Assessor's Office and engaged in a roundtable discussion with senior officials from the Georgia Department of Education. In addition, Mayor Gabor Demszky (Mayor of Budapest, Hungary) presented participants with a first-hand account of successful local government reforms in the context of fiscal decentralization through the World Bank's Global Distance Learning Network.

As part of the training program, participants prepare a presentation that integrates their knowledge of the decentralization process in their own country with the knowledge that they acquired during the course (in Adobe PDF):

We hope that the course in Atlanta was only the beginning of an ongoing relationship with each of the course participants. As new alumni of the Andrew Young School, we hope that they will stay in touch with us as well as each other, and we hope to work with them in the future.