MV859K Local Government Finance

Faculty of Law
Spring 2014
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Sabuhi Yusifov (lecturer), prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D.
Department of Financial Law and Economics – Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Mgr. Věra Redrupová, B.A.
Supplier department: Department of Financial Law and Economics – Faculty of Law
Timetable
Mon 24. 2. to Fri 23. 5. each even Wednesday 18:15–19:45 316
  • Timetable of Seminar Groups:
MV859K/01: Mon 3. 3. to Fri 23. 5. each odd Wednesday 18:15–19:45 316, S. Yusifov
Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of financial law is required. The course is recommended for students in the 8th semester of their studies.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 31 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The primary objective of the course is to provide students with overview of issues related to local governments. Main focus will be on fiscal decentralization, local government revenues, budget procedures, intergovernmental fiscal relations, fiscal transfers and local debt financing. At the end of the course students will be able to differentiate between administrative and fiscal decentralization, distinguish between local and state revenues, understand local government budget procedures, differentiate between line-item budgets and performance budgets, understand structure and types of fiscal transfers and finally explain local government debt financing.
Syllabus
  • Week I Multi-level Government Finance and Introduction to Decentralization. Foundations of Municipal Public Finance
  • Week II Delegation of Service Responsibilities, Local Government Expenditures Decisions
  • Week III Organizing the Delivery of Public Services in Local Governments, Privatization of public services and its financial implications
  • Week IV Fiscal Federalism. Vertical imbalance and horizontal disparities.
  • Week V Revenue Sources for Local Governments: Tax and Non-tax revenues. , Sales Taxes and Income Taxes, Property Taxes, Prices, Fees, User Charges
  • Week VI Revenue Sources for Local Governments: Tax and Non-tax revenues. , Sales Taxes and Income Taxes, Property Taxes, Prices, Fees, User Charges (continued)
  • Week VII Local government budgeting procedures, Line-item budgets and Performance budgets, Participatory budgeting
  • Week VIII Local Borrowing, Financing capital investments through borrowing. Local Government bonds
  • Week IX Intergovernmental finance. Fiscal transfers: governance and design of fiscal transfers Types of fiscal transfers
  • Week X Current issues in local government finance
  • Week XI Local Government Finance in developing countries
  • Week XII Presentations by students
Literature
  • For the full list: see Teacher's Information
Teaching methods
Lectures, In-class discussions, Individual presentations, Reading
Assessment methods
There will be an in-class midterm and final examination, consisting of questions on topics discussed. There also will be written assignments, in the form of a brief analytical essay on a specific questions from topisc discussed. For instance students will make Financial Analysis: a paper (8-10 pages) where students will examine the financial structure of a local governmental unit (municipality, region) and make inferences about it using existing academic literature focusing on similar organizations. The financial analysis has two foci: to evaluate the financial structure of a selected entity, and to make ecommendations for budget and financial management reform with a specific focus on enhancing equity and efficiency.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught only once.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/law/spring2014/MV859K