A Decade of Fiscal Transition

Alam, Asad ; Sundberg, Mark

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ACCOUNTING;    BANKING SYSTEM;    BANKRUPTCY;    BANKRUPTCY LAWS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2835
RP-ID  :  WPS2835

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Transition literature has emphasizedstabilization and enterprise restructuring. Bothcross-country analyses and country-specific studies havetended to focus on fiscal stabilization and its indicators,highlighting the importance of quantitative fiscaladjustment to stabilization outcomes. Less attention hasbeen paid to the qualitative dimensions of fiscal adjustmentin transition. The authors take stock of the extent to whichfiscal adjustment has occurred during the first decade oftransition in both qualitative and quantitative dimensions.They define quality as the extent to which: (1) pro-growthexpenditure essential for creating future economic andsocial assets are maintained; (2) pro-poor expenditure, suchas poverty-targeted transfers, necessary to ensure incomefor the poor and vulnerable are adequately provided; and (3)fiscal risks, impinging on both expenditure and revenue, aremanaged through transition. The authors conclude that whilethe quantitative magnitude of the fiscal adjustment wasdramatic, the quality of this adjustment has compromised thesocial and economic objectives of transition, particularlyin the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They drawfour main conclusions: Investments in public services fellin both absolute and relative terms. Reduced spending ongovernment transfers contributed to a sharp increase inincome inequality in the CIS. Fiscal risks increased duringthe transition. Initial conditions allowed Central Europeanand Baltic countries to maintain higher expenditures, whichmay have contributed to their faster economic recovery andpolitical support for the reforms. The authors argue thatthe challenge today for fiscal policy in these countries isto facilitate the transition-particularly in reallocatingresources from large state-owned enterprises to new smalland medium-size firms, and providing priority publicservices and targeted transfers to assist those adverselyaffected by transition and reverse the deterioration insocial outcomes. The interplay between fiscal policies andinstitutional arrangements is increasingly important astransition economies embark on their second decade ofreforms. In particular, incentives embedded in theinstitutional arrangements for fiscal management needs to bestrengthened so that policies, resources, and outcomes canbe better aligned, and the fiscal adjustment is consistentwith qualitative considerations.