Intergovernmental Finance in Hungary : A Decade of Experience 1990-2000
This book illustrates the decade-long transformation of the Hungarian sub-national system with a focus on sub-national finance. It shows the rocky path of transition from central command to decentralized local self-governments. Hungary has decentra...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/01/6461065/intergovernmental-finance-hungary-decade-experience-1990-2000 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14835 |
| Summary: | This book illustrates the decade-long
transformation of the Hungarian sub-national system with a
focus on sub-national finance. It shows the rocky path of
transition from central command to decentralized local
self-governments. Hungary has decentralized and refurbished
the state administration, reestablished full autonomy of
local governments, and tightened budget constraints. The
public and private sectors are bound to each other in public
utility supply, and civic organizations are also undertaking
a growing role in providing social services. The book
summarizes what worked well and what did not, and why, and
then shows the challenges the country faces on entering the
European Union. Although the process is still incomplete and
the results are not perfect, Hungary's transition and
its innovative and adaptive local governments have proven
the merits of fiscal decentralization. The book builds upon
dozens of policy analyses prepared by local and
international specialists. The studies have provided a broad
range of evidence of a steady learning process, against the
background of a deep economic recession, and an inevitable
fiscal squeeze in the midst of the 1990s. Hungary not only
was a pioneer reformer, but it moved far ahead of other
transition economies in devolving central functions to the
local level, and, in developing an adequate legal and
regulatory framework for a deeply decentralized system. The
book consists of two parts. The first is a comprehensive
overview of developments in the 1990s with a list of policy
proposals in view of Hungary's advanced stage of
transition. The second part consists of 28 case studies in
three sections. The first addresses issues of enhancement of
the overall intergovernmental system, while the second sets
out experiences in building local government capacities in
strategic management and finance. The last section addresses
requirements for building a competitive framework for
financing sub-national governments. |
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