Magister Legum - LLM / The aim of this research paper has been to answer the question whether the actions of the National Treasury in invoking section 216(2) of the Constitution in respect of the 59 municipalities for debt owed in arrears to the creditors Eskom and the water boards, has been legal. Did its decision meet the substantive requirements as well as the procedural requirements as set under the legal framework of the Constitution and the MFMA? The second question was to assess the value in using the intervention against defaulting municipalities, by looking at whether the intervention was effective and what impact did it have on the defaulting municipalities.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Uganda, like many African countries in the 1990s, adopted decentralisation as a state reform measure after many years of civil strife and political conflicts, by transferring powers and functions to district councils. The decision to transfer powers and functions to district councils was, in the main, linked to the quest for democracy and development within the broader context of the nation state. This thesis' broader aim is to examine whether the legal and policy framework of decentralisation produces a system of governance that better serves the greater objectives of local democracy, local development and accommodation of ethnicity. Specifically, the thesis pursues one main aim: to examine whether indeed the existing legal framework ensures the smooth devolution process that is needed for decentralised governance to succeed. In so doing, the study seeks, overall, to offer lessons that are critically important not only for Uganda but any other developing nation that has adopted decentralisation as a state-restructuring strategy. The study uses a desk-top research method by reviewing Uganda's decentralisation legal and policy frameworks. In doing so, the thesis assesses decentralisation's ability to deepen democracy, its role in encouraging development and its ability to accommodate diversity. After reviewing the emerging soft law on decentralisation, the thesis, finds that Uganda's legal framework for decentralisation does not fully enable district councils to foster democracy, facilitate development and accommodate diversity. The thesis argues that the institutions that are created under a decentralised system should be purposefully linked to the overall objective of decentralisation. Giving a historical context of Uganda's decentralisation, the thesis notes that institutional accommodation of ethnic diversity in a decentralised system, particularly so in a multiethnic state, is a vital peace building measure. It is argued the exclusion of ethnicity in Uganda's decentralisation is premised on unjustified fear that ethnicity is potentially a volatile attribute for countries immerging from conflict. It maintains that the unilateral creation of many districts, the adoption of a winner-takes-all electoral system, the absence of special seats for ethnic minorities as well as the vaguely defined district powers and functions do not serve the overall objective of decentralisation. The thesis also finds that district councils are overregulated, with little respect for their autonomy, a phenomenon that is highly nostalgic of a highly centralised state. The thesis therefore calls for immediate reforms of Uganda's decentralisation programme.

Magister Legum - LLM / In 2014, the African Union (AU) adopted the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development (the African Charter on Decentralisation). The Charter is a first of its kind to provide a decentralisation framework for local government on the African continent. It seeks to use local government as a vehicle for improving the livelihoods of people on the African continent. Member States of the AU will only be bound by the African Charter on Decentralisation once they have ratified it. The actual impact of the Charter to improve the livelihood of people on the African continent is unknown. This research paper provides a critical analysis of the Charter in order to establish its potential. The analysis is undertaken against the background of the international literature on decentralisation and 'best' practices on local government. / South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI)

No abstract included. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The study is based on intergovernmental fiscal relations in South Africa. The focus area is on the current fiscal arrangements. The equitable sharing of nationally collected revenue - the manner in which finances are transferred from central to sub-national governments; vertical and horizontal division, conditional grants are explored. Sub­ national governments' fiscal capacity; their tax base and borrowing powers are also examined. Various legislation, institutions and structures as well as practices in the intergovernmental fiscal system are explored in order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficacy of the emerging fiscal system. Historical developments of intergovernmental financial relations in South Africa are explored in order to explain why certain things in the current fiscal system are done and others not; where other practices originated and what prompted the current system. Cooperative governance is discussed, as fiscal arrangements are impossible if the three spheres of government do not co-ordinate their functions and Legislation. The study employs both the qualitative and quantitative method of data collection, including secondary sources, which comprise library books, journal articles, policy documents and newspapers and news bulletins. Primary sources used, are interviews with personnel from the Financial and Fiscal Commission, provincial and local governments as well as members of the general public. The study concludes th.at the emerging intergovernmental fiscal system in South Africa is still in a state of flux, in the light of enabling legislation still outstanding and some institutions and structures. of promoting cooperative government lacking teeth, it will take a while for the system to reach a state where it could be declared effective and efficient

A study of intergovernmental communications between the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation and recreation-related agencies in the State of Utah was designed to explore the extent and nature of their role in decision-making within the Division. The purpose of the study was to determine what factors related to communication might help improve the effectiveness of Division operations. A questionnaire aimed specifically at discovering what types of communication existed between the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation and sampled respondents was administered to private, municipal, county, and federal recreation personnel within Utah. The respondent's level of participation with the Division was measured and correlated with communication type to see if there was any relationship. The results were significant, indicating that the type of communication does influence a person's degree of participation with the Division. It was felt that several intervening variables affected the relationship between communication and participation. These intervening variables were amount of knowledge, location of the unit in the state, type of agency, and amount of contact. The type of communication was also correlated with the amount of knowledge of Division responsibilities and objectives. The results were not significant. The amount of knowledge of Division objectives and responsibilities was correlated with the degree of participation, under the assumption that greater degrees of participation caused greater knowledge of the Division. While a significant relationship was found with respect to one activity, goal setting, the relationship was not in the direction predicted. The geographical location of the given agency unit was analyzed with the amount of contact with several recreation agencies, as well as with the amount of knowledge of Division objectives and responsibilities. The results were not significant. The type of agency variable was correlated to the amount of knowledge, under the assumption that persons working for one type of agency would have more knowledge of the Division than persons employed by other types of agencies. The results v1ere significant with federal and county authorities showing the greatest knowledge. The final variable, amount of contact, was correlated to the amount of knowledge of Division objectives and responsibilities, though the results were not significant. Implications of the finding concerning the possible improvement of Division effectiveness were noted.

Thesis advisor: Pablo Guerron / The dissertation examines how fiscal policies adjust to economic states in a growth model where productions are mobile across jurisdictions and the corresponding consequences. In my work, I study the properties of optimal state-level corporate and labor income tax rates and how shocks in the federal tax rates affect the economy; and I endogenize the federal-level fiscal policies in a Stackelberg game setting where the federal government is the leader and the states are the followers. In “Fiscal Competition and Federal Shocks”, I answer such the question of “how a shock to federal tax rate affect the macro-economy”. The innovation is that I take into account the effects of factor mobility, state-federal interaction, and state-state interaction on the transmission mechanism of the federal shocks. By using the U.S. data set, I find the evidence that state-level tax rates will respond to changes in federal tax rates (known as vertical competition) and the neighboring state's policies (known as horizontal competition). To rationalize this finding, I develop a two-region growth model with benevolent state governments, integrated capital market, and sticky migration. My quantitative result indicates that omitting the endogenous responses of state-level policies leads to significant difference in response to a federal shock. This means that the central policy make has to consider the intergovernmental fiscal relations when designing federal fiscal policies. In “Optimal Policies in a Federation”, I examine the optimal federal and state fiscal policies in a dynamic macro model with policy commitment, integrated capital market, and inter-state migration. In modeled governance system, the federal government is the Stackelberg leader, the state governments are the followers and take the leader's policies as given. In the interior-point steady-state, the overall tax rate on corporate income is zero. However, the leader and followers impose different tax rates. The leader levies a positive and high tax rate, the followers levy negative tax rates. The zero (overall) tax rate result holds when the states are heterogeneous in their TFPs. If the federal government has to impose the same labor income tax rate on the states, the federal tax rates are independent of the degree of inequality and each state has a zero overall corporate tax rate. IF the federal labor tax system is nonlinear, the states impose different tax rates. But the tax-base-weighted overall tax rate in the economy is still zero. In addition, I find that increasing the federal corporate tax rate is the optimal response to foreign country's TFP becomes higher. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

This paper examines the response of Swedish local governments to a targeted intergovernmental stimulus grant aimed at increasing staffing levels in elderly care. The focus is on two key outcomes: municipal elderly care personnel costs relative to total municipal costs and the number of full-time employees in elderly care per elderly user. An OLS regression based on panel data between 2011 and 2018 initially estimates the grant’s spending effects. An instrumental variable (IV) model is then employed to address potential endogeneity, utilizing an update in the grant allocation formula. Both the OLS and IV estimates suggest that the stimulus grant has no discernible effect on the ratio of elderly care personnel costs to total municipal spending. Furthermore, the IV results show insignificant short-run effects on full-time employment in elderly care. However, significant increases are observed three years after the allocation formula update. The overall effects confirm standard economic grant theory predicting how non-matching targeted grants only contribute to an income effect.

Li, Ching Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-108). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Contents --- p.v / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Contribution --- p.3 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Background --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- China's County-level Fiscal & Administrative System --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Changing Structure of the Intergovernmental Transfer System --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Forces Shaping the Current Intergovernmental Transfer System --- p.20 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Literature Review --- p.27 / Chapter 3.1 --- Literature on the Theories of Intergovernmental Transfers Relevant to China --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter Four --- "Model Specification, Data and Empirical Strategy" --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Basic Specification --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Data --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3 --- Panel Data Estimation --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Estimation Results --- p.60 / Chapter 5.1 --- Selection of Panel Data Model --- p.60 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Estimation Results for Real Earmarked Transfers Per Capita (REARPC) --- p.62 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Estimation Results for Real Tax Rebates Per Capita (RREBPC) --- p.64 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Estimation Results for Real Transitional Intergovernmental Transfer Per Capita (RTRAPC) --- p.67 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Estimation Results for Real Wage Adjustment Transfers Per Capita (RWAGPC) --- p.70 / Chapter 5.2 --- Problems with Estimation & Robustness of Results --- p.72 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Data problems & Robustness --- p.72 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Different Sets of Explanatory Variables --- p.75 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Hausman-Taylor model: An Experiment --- p.77 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions and Policy Implications --- p.83 / Chapter 6.1 --- Summary of Salient Findings --- p.83 / Chapter 6.2 --- Policy Implications --- p.85 / Appendix 1 --- p.90 / Appendix II --- p.93 / References --- p.97

Magister Legum - LLM