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Local Public Finance

An International Comparative Regulatory Perspective

  • Analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries
  • Addresses the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention
  • Presents new systematic and empirical evidence useful for both practitioners and scholars

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction: The Relevance and Conceptualisation of Local Finance Regulatory Regimes

    • René Geissler, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Christian Raffer
    Pages 1-19
  3. Concepts of Regulation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21
    2. Fiscal Rules at the Local Level: The Challenge of Enforcement

      • René Geissler, Kai Wegrich
      Pages 39-56
    3. European Patterns of Local Government Fiscal Regulation

      • Christian Raffer, Andrés Ponce
      Pages 73-90
    4. Local Public Finance Regulation in Southeast Europe: A Comparison of Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia

      • Mihaela Bronić, Jelena Jerinić, Maja Klun, Katarina Ott, Iztok Rakar
      Pages 91-107
    5. The Impact of Fiscal Rules on the Financial Management of Municipalities: A Comparative Analysis of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

      • Juraj Nemec, Daniel Klimovský, Vladimir Šagát, Michal Plaček, Lucie Sedmihradská
      Pages 109-130
    6. Monitoring Local Government Financial Sustainability: A Dutch-English Comparison

      • Dennis De Widt, Tim Thorogood, Iolo Llewelyn
      Pages 131-152
    7. The Implementation of Fiscal Regulation: Insights from Germany

      • Christian Person, Falk Ebinger, Steffen Zabler
      Pages 153-171
  4. Bailouts and Insolvency

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-185
    2. Preventing Local Government Defaults: No-Bailout Policy and Its Alternatives

      • Maarten Adriaan Allers, Joes Gordon de Natris
      Pages 187-207
    3. Four Decades of Municipal Bailouts in Germany

      • Christian Person, René Geissler
      Pages 227-245
  5. Local Public Finance in Times of Crisis

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 247-247
    2. Fiscal Consolidation in German and Greek Local Governments: Reform Attempts, Supervision and Local Measures

      • Maria-Artemis Kolliniati, Philipp Stolzenberg, Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas
      Pages 267-279

About this book

This book is based upon a comparative public administration research project, initiated by the Hertie School of Governance (Germany) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) and supported by a network of researchers from many EU countries. It analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries. 

The book brings together key findings of this research project. The regulatory discussion is not limited to the prominent issue of fiscal rules but focuses on every component of regulation. Beyond this, the book covers affiliated topics such as the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention. The various book chapters throughout provide a broad picture of local public finance regulation in theory and in practice, using different theoretical and national lenses for the analysis. Furthermore, the authors investigate the effects of budgetary constraints and higher-level regulatory efforts on local governments and on democracy and public services in every European country. This book fills a gap with respect to the lack of discussion on local government finance from an international, comparative perspective and, in particular, the regulation of local public finance. With its mix of authors, this book will be useful for practitioners as well as for scholars and for theory-driven research. 



Editors and Affiliations

  • Technical University of Applied Sciences, Wildau, Germany

    René Geissler

  • Hertie School, Berlin, Germany

    Gerhard Hammerschmid

  • German Institute of Urban Affairs, Berlin, Germany

    Christian Raffer

About the editors

René Geissler is Professor of Public Management at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Wildau, Germany. Until fall 2020 he was working for Bertelsmann Stiftung as a Senior Expert in Public Finance designing and implementing various research projects. His research focuses particularly on monitoring fiscal trends by public statistics, financial management and the regulation of local public finance. He is author of manifold publications and regularly serves as an expert in media.


Gerhard Hammerschmid is Professor of public and financial management at the Hertie School, Berlin (Germany) and the director of the "Center for Digital Governance" at the Hertie School. His research focuses on public management, public administration reform, comparative public administration, performance management, public sector innovation, public sector leadership, public service motivation, organization theory and new institutionalism. He serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for various renowned international journals.


Christian Raffer is a Research Associate at  the German Institute of Urban Affairs. His research focuses on public economics and public management, as well as fiscal policy, firm growth, and empirical methods. Christian Raffer also works as a lecturer for economics at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Local Public Finance

  • Book Subtitle: An International Comparative Regulatory Perspective

  • Editors: René Geissler, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Christian Raffer

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67466-3

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-67465-6Published: 21 April 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-67468-7Published: 22 April 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-67466-3Published: 20 April 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 355

  • Number of Illustrations: 62 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Public Administration, Public Policy, Public Finance, Comparative Politics, Governance and Government

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access