Fiscal management: Public Sector Governance and Accountability Series

Abstract

Ten papers highlight incentives that ensure the accountability of the public sector and provide policymakers and policy practitioners with tools to address the issue of fiscal prudence, fiscal stress, citizen accountability, and public integrity. Papers discuss budgeting institutions and public spending (Jurgen von Hagen); performance-based budgeting reform (Matthew Andrews); simple tools for evaluating revenue performance in a developing country (Mahesh Purohit); evaluating public expenditures (Richard M. Bird); guidelines for public debt management (the International Monetary Fund and World Bank staff); the problem of a hidden deficit, when the budget deficit grossly underestimates the true fiscal indebtedness of a government (Homi Kharas and Deepak Mishra); addressing contingent liabilities and fiscal risk (Hana Polackova Brixi); measuring the net worth of a government (Andrews and Anwar Shah); approaches to change in the bureaucratic culture (Shah); and a framework for evaluating institutions of accountability (Mark Schacter). Shah is lead economist and team leader for Public Sector Governance with the World Bank Institute and a fellow of the Institute for Public Economics, Edmonton, Canada. Index.