An Introduction to Public Finance in Multilevel Democracies

This course will introduce students to the fundamental political, institutional, and technical issues associated with sub-national governance and public finance reform multilevel democracies. The course requires no prior experience with either intergovernmental finance or fiscal issues. Its central purpose is to explore how politics and policy shape the way responsibility for regulating, financing, and managing public services get defined and divvied up between levels of government in both federal and unitary states.