The Economics of Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation Part 2: New Fiscal Decentralisation Indices

Scientific research, Publications, Growth volatility, Population, Diversification

Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation: An Entropic Approach

Fiscal decentralisation has attracted attention from government, academic studies, and international institutions with the aims of enhancing economic growth in recent years. One of the difficult issues is to measure satisfactorily the degree of fiscal decentralisation across countries. This study helps resolve the problem by developing the fiscal decentralisation index which accounts for both fiscal autonomy and fiscal importance of subnational governments. While the index is an advance on current practice, it is still not perfect as it assumes there is no dispersion of revenue and expenditure across regions. In response to this weakness, fiscal entropy and fiscal inequality measures are developed using information theory (Theil, 1967). It is shown how fiscal inequality can be decomposed regionally and hierarchically. These ideas are illustrated with Australia data pertaining to federal, state and local levels of governments.Fiscal Decentralisation, Fiscal Autonomy, Fiscal Importance, Australia

Fiscal Decentralisation in Vietnam: a Preliminary Investigation

Fiscal decentralisation is a complex theoretical and practical issue. The literature is currently divided on whether there is a positive or negative relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economic growth, and it appears that this is in large part due to inconsistent measures of fiscal decentralisation. In this paper, fiscal decentralisation in Vietnam will be examined, with a view to developing a fiscal decentralisation index that accounts for both the fiscal autonomy and fiscal importance of subnational governments to compare the degree of fiscal decentralisation in Vietnam with that of a range of other countries. This will facilitate subsequent (and hopefully definitive) investigations of the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economic growth.Fiscal Decentralisation, Economic Growth, Fiscal Autonomy, Fiscal Importance, Vietnam

The Economics of Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation Part 4: Fiscal Decentralisation in Vietnam, China, and Selected Asean Nations

Scientific research, Publications, Growth volatility, Population, Diversification

The Economics of Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation Part 1: An Overview of Recent Insights into Fiscal Decentralisation

This thesis investigates economic aspects of the measurement of fiscal decentralisation to establish how a nation’s fiscal arrangements can be consistently measured, so they can be compared internationally. A new index of fiscal decentralisation is developed that reflects two key elements of the theory of fiscal decentralisation: the fiscal autonomy of subnational governments; and their fiscal importance. The role of fiscal inequality in subnational governments’ public finances is also considered.Scientific research, Publications, Growth volatility, Population, Diversification

The Economics of Measuring Fiscal Decentralisation Part 3: Subnational Fiscal Inequlities: Inplications for the Measurement of Fiscal Decentralisation

Scientific research, Publications, Growth volatility, Population, Diversification

High-spin [gamma]-ray spectroscopy in 198Bi, superdeformation in 191Au, and multi-photon resonances in low energy e+e- scattering

The properties of low-and high-spin levels in [superscript]198Bi have been studied with the [superscript]181Ta([superscript]22Ne,5n)[superscript]198Bi reaction at 116 MeV and 120 MeV bombarding energies. Levels along and near the yrast lines, including one isomer, were established up to spin J ≈ 30\hbar. The main configurations of these states are suggested to be [pi] h[subscript]9/2 coupled to the known excited states in [superscript]197Pb. A sequence of states built on the excitation of the odd proton (coupled to one, two, or three quasi neutron-holes) was observed. In addition, at least two collective bands were observed. These two bands are backbending bands and are suggested to be oblate collective structures built on oblate proton and possibly neutron states;A superdeformed (SD) band was observed for the first time in an Au isotope. The reaction used was [superscript]11B + [superscript]186W, demonstrating that very light ions can be used to populate SD bands at high angular momentum. The band is assigned to [superscript]191Au. The [gamma]-ray energies are at the so-called quarter-point energies of the [superscript]192Hg SD band, indicating that the [superscript]191Au SD band is identical to that of [superscript]192Hg;A search for resonant states in low-energy e[superscript]+e[superscript]- scattering through their decay to multi-photon final states was performed using e[superscript]+ from [superscript]68Ga sources and a Pb absorber. Energy-sum and invariant mass spectra of coincident 2[gamma] and 3[gamma] events were obtained using the 20-element High Energy-Resolution Array (HERA) facility. No evidence for resonant states was found, and upper limits for the partial decay widths of such resonances were established in the energy range from 1.1 to 1.8 MeV