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Future Challenges in Fiscal Decentralization: Essays in Honor of Jorge Martinez-Vazquez

Future Challenges in Fiscal Decentralization: Essays in Honor of Jorge Martinez-Vazquez

ICePP Public Finance Conference

Future Challenges in Fiscal Decentralization

The 2024 Public Finance Conference will be held October 17–19, 2024, organized and sponsored by the International Center for Public Policy (ICePP).

The theme of this conference is current, emerging, and potential future challenges in global fiscal decentralization efforts.

The conference and subsequent publications constitute a group reflection on fiscal decentralization and consideration of a roadmap for where the theory and practices will need to go in the coming decades. One may argue that since the seminal papers in this field were written, the landscape has changed dramatically, both the internal context in many countries and the global environment. Does this reality change how scholars and policymakers should think about decentralization strategies and policies?

This conference seeks to contribute possible answers to three key questions:

  1. Is fiscal decentralization as good an idea now as it was a decade ago?
  2. If it is a good idea, how do scholars and policymakers get around the logjams that have long held things up (e.g., local taxation, expenditure assignments, the administrative model, and so on)?
  3. How much adaptation is needed in the established theories and practices to meet the new challenges?

Information on the presentation papers can be found below in the Conference Program.

#AYSPS_PublicFinance

Conference Program

Welcome

Friday, October 18th, 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM

  • Opening and Introduction

    8:45 AM – 9:00 AM

    Roy Bahl  (Georgia State University)
    Paul Benson  (Georgia State University)
    Andrey Timofeev  (Georgia State University)
    Sally Wallace  (Ernst & Young)

Session I: Taking Stock of Fiscal Decentralization

Friday, October 18th, 9:00 AM – 11:50 AM (EDT)

Chair: Roy Bahl (Georgia State University)

Session II: The Theory and Practice of the Design of Fiscal Decentralization Systems

Friday, October 18th, 12:50 PM – 1:15 PM (EDT)

Chair: Sally Wallace (Ernst & Young)

Testimonials and Dinner

Friday, June 10th, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM (EDT)

Session III: Capacity, Measurement, Performance, and Impact of Fiscal Decentralization

Saturday, October 19th, 8:00 AM – 10:45 AM (EDT)

Chair: Andrey Timofeev (Georgia State University)

Session IV: Conclusion

Saturday, October 19th, 10:45 AM – 12:00 AM (EDT)

Chair: Sam Skogstad (Georgia State University)

* Download PDF of Conference Program

Other Conference Information

Organizers

The 2024 Public Finance Conference, Future Challenges in Fiscal Decentralization, is sponsored by ICePP and is held in honor of Jorge Martinez-Vazquez’s extensive contributions to fiscal decentralization and public finance. The conference will take place in Atlanta from October 17–19, 2024 and will be accessible virtually via Webex. The conference was organized by:

Roy Bahl (Georgia State University) 
Paul Benson (Georgia State University)
Andrey Timofeev (Georgia State University)
Sally Wallace (Ernst & Young)

History of ICePP Public Finance Conference Series: Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Emeritus Regents Professor of Economics, founded the ICePP Public Finance Conference series in 2001 at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS). His goal was to bring top public finance scholars and experts in the academic and policy world to Atlanta to discuss the most timely and relevant public finance issues affecting governments and policymakers around the world. Since its inception, the International Center for Public Policy (ICePP) has organized 14 conferences on a broad range of public finance topics. While many of our conferences have been organized internally by Georgia State faculty, conferences are frequently collaborations with other institutions such as the World Bank and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Participants

Ehtisham Ahmad

Professor of Economics

London School of Economics

James Alm

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Tulane University

Roy Bahl

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Georgia State University

Paul Benson

Senior Director, Public Finance Research Cluster

Georgia State University

Robin Boadway

Professor of Economics

Queens University

Giorgio Brosio

Professor of Economics

University of Torino

Luiz de Mello

Fiscal Decentralization and Tax Policy Expert

World Bank

Robert Ebel

Affiliated Senior Research Associate

International Center for Public Policy, Georgia State University

William Fox

Professor of Economics

University of Tennessee

Juan Luis Gómez

Fiscal and Municipal Management Specialist

Inter-American Development Bank

Timothy Goodspeed

Professor of Economics

Hunter College

Charles Hankla

Professor of Political Science and Associate Director, Public Finance Research Cluster

Georgia State University

Eunice Heredia-Ortiz

Fiscal Decentralization and Tax Policy Expert

Development Alternatives Inc.

Ana Hererro-Alcado

Professor of Economics

UNED

Santiago Lago-Penas

Professor of Economics

University of Santiago de Compostela

Jorge Martinez-Vazquez

Professor Emeritus and Founding Director, International Center of Public Policy

Department of Economics
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Georgia State University

Charles McLure

Professor of Economics

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Mark Rider

Mark Rider

Associate Professor of Economics

Georgia State University

Pablo Saavedra

Vice President for the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Global Practice

World Bank

Anwar Shah

Fiscal Decentralization and Tax Policy Expert

Brookings Institution

David Sjoquist

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Georgia State University

Sam Skogstad

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Georgia State University

Enid Slack

Professor of Economics

University of Toronto

Paul Smoke

Professor of Public Finance and Planning, Director of Global EMPA

New York University

Teresa Ter-Minassian

International Macro-economic Consultant

Inter-American Development Bank

Andrey Timofeev

Research Associate Professor of Economics

Georgia State University

François Vaillancourt

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Université de Montréal

Sally Wallace

Sally Wallace

Managing Director EY QUEST

Ernst & Young

Stan Winer

Emeritus Professor of Economics

Carleton University

Serdar Yilmaz

Lead Public Sector Specialist

World Bank

Joan Youngman

Fiscal Decentralization and Tax Policy Expert

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
World Bank

George Zodrow

Professor of Economics

Rice University

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