Research Handbook on City and Municipal Finance

This timely Research Handbook explores the handling of city and municipal finances in the 21st century. It examines the impact of the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic on cities and municipalities, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and avenues for future progress in city and municipal financial management.

Bringing together leading global scholars of public finance and budgeting, economics, law, political science and policy analysis, this Research Handbook scrutinises how cities and municipalities have adapted after crisis periods. It combines theoretical ideas, empirical findings and practical applications, focusing on federalist systems as well as including global case studies from diverse governance contexts. Contributors analyse sources of revenue for cities and municipalities, critical areas of spending, fiscal structure, budgeting, debt, pensions and financial resilience. Forward thinking, it considers the strength and resilience of city and municipal finances in meeting long-term liabilities and responding to short-term crises.

This Research Handbook will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of public finance and administration, urban economics, and political economy. Providing cutting-edge policy recommendations, it will also be a highly useful guide for policy-makers and administrators seeking to effectively guide city and municipal finances.