Leading scholars and practitioners examine constitutional design and taxing, spending, and regulatory responsibilities at the federal, state/provincial, and local/municipal levels in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. This volume also explores the effects of intergovernmental fiscal relations on securing economic unions and improving social welfare.

Contributors provide a fascinating account of how federal countries are confronting the traditional challenges of conflicts over division of fiscal powers while also coping with emerging challenges of globalization and citizen empowerment arising from the information revolution. They analyze how relationships and roles in different orders of government are being reshaped and show how local solutions inspired by global principles help strengthen government accountability and improve the quality of life for citizens.

Contributors include Robin Boadway (Canada), Alexander Deryugin (Russia), Akpan H. Ekpo (Nigeria), Lars P. Feld (Germany), William Fox (United States), Bongani Khumalo (South Africa), Gebhard Kirchgässner (Switzerland), Galina Kurlyandskaya (Russia), Julio López-Laborda (Spain), Jorge Martínez-Vázquez (Spain), Renosi Mokate (South Africa), Carlos Monasterio (Spain), Alan Morris (Australia), Shankaran Nambiar (Malaysia), M. Govinda Rao (India), Fernando Rezende (Brazil), and Jürgen von Hagen (Germany).