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A recent trend in decentralization in several large and diverse countries is the creation of local jurisdictions below the regional level - municipalities, towns, and villages - whose spending is almost exclusively financed by grants from both regional and national governments. This paper argues that such grants-financed decentralization enables politicians to target benefits to pivotal voters and organized interest groups in exchange for political support. Decentralization, in this model, is subject to political capture, facilitating vote-buying, patronage, or pork-barrel projects, at the expense of effective provision of broad public goods. There is anecdotal evidence on local politics in several large countries that is consistent with this theory. The paper explores its implications for international development programs in support of decentralization.

Banks & Banking Reform --- Cities --- Community participation --- Decentralization --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Governance --- Local governments --- Local public services --- Local revenue --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Municipal governments --- Municipalities --- National Governance --- Parliamentary Government --- Political competition --- Provinces --- Public disclosure --- Public Sector Development --- Public Sector Economics --- Resource allocation --- Revenue-raising potential --- Revenue-raising power --- State governments --- Subnational Economic Development --- Tax --- Tax bases --- Towns --- Village --- Villages

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This report is intended to provide in one single document the background, principal recent and current World Bank activities and the proposed program of technical assistance to the Government in the area of public investment programming and management in post-revolution Libya. Aside from the convenience, both for the Bank and other international partners, of a synthesis of all major assessments and advice provided by the Bank in this central area of public sector management, this report shows the substantial continuity of diagnosis and assistance from the immediate aftermath of the Revolution through mid-2014. The first section recounts the early activities and, against that background, the second section summarizes the activities conducted and initial results achieved during FY2014. The concluding section lists the preliminary agreements with the Government on how to build on those initial results with complementary activities and deepening of a number of initiatives, specifically during FY2015 and with general indications for the subsequent years. The text of the report is limited to a summary of key issues and recommendations, with full details provided in the several annexes.

Accountability --- Accounting --- Capital Expenditures --- Competition --- Cost Recovery --- Cost-Benefit analysis --- Cost-Effectiveness --- Debt --- Decentralization --- Deficit --- Economic Recovery --- Expenditures --- Financial Management --- Fiscal Policy --- Fiscal Year --- Governance --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Municipal Governments --- Municipalities --- National Governance --- Public Expenditure, Financial Management and Procurement --- Public Finance --- Public Procurement --- Public Sector --- Public Sector Development --- Public Sector Governance --- Sanitation --- Transparency --- Uncertainty

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Since South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, it has given significant attention to building an effective system of decentralization including provincial and local government. While provincial governments are responsible mainly for the implementation of social services such as health and education, the provision of much of the urban infrastructure is the responsibility of local government. Although many challenges remain, the country has made significant progress over the past decade in addressing urban service backlogs in poor areas. At the same time, it has greatly improved macroeconomic fundamentals. The system of financing local government seeks to place accountability firmly at the local level, with most revenues in the larger urban centers raised locally through a combination of local taxes and fees for services, while poorer regions are predominantly grant funded. The objective has been to encourage the financing of capital infrastructure through local borrowing based on sustainable, transparent local finances rather than national repayment guarantees, which are outlawed. There is some indirect subsidization of loans through the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa. But the emphasis is on achieving redistribution through transparent, formula-based grants paid directly from national to local governments. While further bedding down of the system is needed, the approach is proving largely successful. The paper concludes by recommending that the existing division between provinces as providers of social services and local governments as the key locus of responsibility for services related to the built environment should be strengthened, particularly through the devolution of more urban transport related functions. A number of key risks are also highlighted, including issues related to the reform of local business taxes.

Cities --- Debt --- Debt Markets --- Decentralization --- Employment --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Governments --- Grants --- Guarantees --- Housing --- Infrastructure --- Labor --- Local Government --- Local Governments --- Metropolitan Areas --- Municipal --- Municipal Financial Management --- Municipal Governments --- Public and Municipal Finance --- Revenue --- Services --- Subnational Governance --- Transfers --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning --- Urban Development --- Urban Economics --- Urban Governance and Management --- Urban Services --- Urbanization

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Public administration --- Administration, Public --- Delivery of government services --- Government services, Delivery of --- Public management --- Public sector management --- Political science --- Administrative law --- Decentralization in government --- Local government --- Public officers --- History --- Municipal governments --- Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) --- 1600 - 1699 --- Bohemia (Czech Republic) --- Czech Republic. --- 17th century --- Češka --- Česká republika --- Česko --- Cheko --- Cheko Kyōwakoku --- Chequia --- ČR --- Czechia --- República Checa --- República Txeca --- République tchèque --- Tschechei --- Tschechenland --- Tschechien --- Tschechische Republik --- Txeca --- Czechoslovakia

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This paper analyzes land transactions between municipalities and private businesses based on official data and business surveys in 15 regions of the Russian Federation. Since the Russian Federation passed the new Land Code in 2001, land privatization has been officially encouraged by the federal government and in particular, land under previously privatized buildings was supposed to be privatized to the owner at a nominal price. The paper shows that many subnational authorities (which own or control the vast majority of land of interest to businesses) appear to use a combination of high statutory land buy-out prices and administrative barriers to deter land privatization and to offer "long-term leases" (which are not fully marketable) instead. On the other hand, regions that have established low buy-out prices and taken steps to remove unnecessary administrative barriers to land privatization appear to have higher rates of land ownership by businesses, and to face lower levels of corruption in the privatization process. The paper concludes that further reductions in the statutory prices for privatization of land under buildings and elimination of unnecessary administrative barriers should help to encourage further land privatization and the development of a competitive, secondary market in commercial land.

Administrative Costs --- Auctions --- Cities --- Common Property Resource Development --- Communities & Human Settlements --- Disclosure --- Enterprises --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Land --- Land and Real Estate Development --- Land Prices --- Land Pricing --- Land Taxes --- Land Use and Policies --- Laws --- Legislation --- Local Government --- Municipal --- Municipal Financial Management --- Municipal Governments --- Municipal Housing and Land --- Municipalities --- Private Sector Development --- Privatization --- Productivity --- Projects --- Property --- Public Sector Management and Reform --- Real Estate Development --- Revenue --- Rural Development --- Subnational Governance --- Urban Development --- Urban Governance and Management --- Urban Housing