
|
|

As a result
of the tragic events in New-York on September 11, 2001, the Commission
on Fiscal Imbalance had to cancel the International Symposium that was
to have been held in Québec City on September 13 and 14, 2001.
The Commission
regrets any inconvenience to those who had registered caused by the cancellation
of the event on such short notice.
The
Program
Speakers' texts
The
Program
The Canadian
federation is confronted with a major fiscal imbalance: in light of the
current occupation of taxation fields, provinces have insufficient revenues
to exercise the jurisdictions granted to them under the Constitution,
whereas the Federal Government has revenues in excess of what it needs
to fund its jurisdictions. Have other federations experienced similar
problems? How have these federations
evolved in
terms of responsability sharing and in terms of revenue and expenditure
levels? Have these federations put in place mechanisms to strike an adequate
balance between revenues and expenditures for each order of government?
How do they adapt to new needs and new realities? Have emerging trends
been noted in the field of intergovernmental financial relations? These
are just some of the questions that will be addressed at the International
Symposium on Fiscal Imbalance, which will be held in Québec City
on September 13 and 14, 2001.
This symposium
will bring together experts from various federations, both new and well-established,
as well as from non-federal countries that have implemented various decentralization
formulas. Some speakers are from government or political circles, whereas
others are active in the university research and teaching field. These
speakers are associated with a variety of disciplines such as political
science, economics, public administration, accounting and law.
During this
event, speakers will be asked to present the situation in their country.
They will also have the opportunity to exchange views with members of
the Commission on Fiscal Imbalance as well as with Symposium participants.
The Commission hopes to draw lessons from these foreign experiences, which
should help resolve the fiscal imbalance problem confronting Québec.
Speakers'
texts
Below are
the texts that were to be presented by the speakers invited to the Symposium.
 |
William
F. FOX, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Decentralization in the
United States: Where has the Country Headed? (56 Kb, )
Mr. William F. Fox is a full professor at the Economics Department
and Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at
the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Mr. Fox is a specialist
in fiscal matters and has written numerous articles in this field.
He was guest researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
and visiting professor at the University of Hawaii. He has served
as a consultant on finance, taxation and economic development in
several American States and in numerous developing countries, in
particular for the World Bank.
Bruce
A. WALLIN, Northeastern University, Boston.
Forces Behind Centralization
and Decentralization In the United States (61.5 Kb, )
Mr. Bruce A. Wallin is a professor in the Department of Political
Science at Northeastern University in Boston. He is a specialist
in the field of American federalism and intergovernmental relations.
He has previously been a professor at the University of Wisconsin,
a visiting professor in Japan and a researcher with the U.S. Advisory
Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. In 1999, the American
Political Science Association awarded him the prize for the best
book on urban politics for From Revenue Sharing to Deficit Sharing:
General Revenue Sharing
and Cities.
|
 |
Paul
Bernd SPAHN, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt.
Maintaining fiscal equilibrium
in a federation: Germany (252 Kb, )
Mr. Paul Bernd Spahn is a professor of Economics at the Johann Wolfgang
Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt-am-Main. An internationally
renowned specialist in German fiscal federalism, he has done several
studies on this subject. A portion of his current research is devoted
to the analysis of the European integration process. As an International
Monetary Fund advisor, he has taken part in several missions in
developing countries and countries in transition. He has also served
as a scientific advisor, in particular for the World Bank and the
European Parliament.
Otto
BEIERL, Bavarian State Ministry of Finance, Munich.
Reforming Intergovernmental
Fiscal Relations in Germany: (132 Kb, )
Mr. Otto Beierl is Assistant Deputy Minister for Intergovernmental
Financial Policies at the Ministry of Finance of Bavaria (Freistaat
Bayern).
|
 |
Bernard
DAFFLON, Université de Fribourg.
FISCAL FEDERALISM
IN SWITZERLAND: a survey of constitutional issues, budget responsibility
and equalisation (378 Kb, )
Mr. Bernard Dafflon is a professor of public finance and public
finance management at the University of Fribourg. He is the author
of numerous publications describing intergovernmental relations
in Switzerland. Since 1994, he has taken on the role of expert for
the Council of Europe in the field of decentralization and local
public finance. Prior to 1994, he served for thirteen years as department
head at the Directorate of the Interior of the Canton of Fribourg,
Commune department.
FEDERAL-CANTONAL
EQUALISATION IN SWITZERLAND:
WHAT SHOULD AND COULD BE CHANGED ?
(265 Kb, )
Sonja
WÄLTI, Université de Lausanne, visiting researcher
at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Les équilibres
et déséquilibres du système fédéral
suisse (190 Kb, )
Ms. Sonja Wälti is a guest researcher and an assistant professor
at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (Georgetown University)
in Washington, D.C. Since August 2000, she has been directing comparative
research on the impact of federal and decentralized structures in
the environmental policy field. At the University of Lausanne in
Switzerland, she contributed to several research projects, including
one dealing with fiscal policy in federal countries, including Switzerland,
Canada, Belgium and Germany. In addition, she served as an elected
member in the cantonal parliament of Saint-Gall from 1992 to 1996.
|
 |
David
J. COLLINS, Macquarie University, Sydney.
The 2000 Reform of
Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangements in Australia (257 Kb,
)
Mr. David J. Collins is an associate professor of economics at Macquarie
University in Sydney. For several years, he was director of research
for the Australian Tax Research Foundation. He chaired the working
group that prepared, in 1988 and at the request of the Premier of
New South Wales, a detailed report on the taxation system, several
of whose recommendations have been applied. He also published a
research study describing the recent reform of intergovernmental
fiscal arrangements.
|
 |
Robert
D. EBEL, World Bank Institute, Washington, D.C.
CONCEPT OF FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION
AND WORLDWIDE OVERVIEW (419 Kb, )
Mr. Robert D. Ebel is Principal Economist at the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank Institute) in Washington,
D.C. There, he directs training programs in intergovernmental fiscal
relations and local financial management offered to developing countries.
A specialist in the finances of States and municipalities in the United
States, he was director of the United States Advisory Commission on
Intergovernmental Relations and director of research for fiscal task
forces of several American States. At the World Bank, he coordinated
a major multinational initiative on fiscal decentralization in Central
Europe and Eastern Europe. Mr. Ebel is also the author of two books
entitled Decentralization of the Socialist State (with Richard Bird
and Christine Wallich) and The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy
(with Joseph Cordes and Jane G. Gravelle) |
 |
Marcel
GÉRARD, Facultés universitaires catholiques de
Mons.
LE FÉDÉRALISME
FISCAL EN BELGIQUE
(103 Kb, )
Mr. Marcel Gérard is a professor at the Facultés universitaires
catholiques de Mons in Belgium, where he is the person in charge
of the Economics and Sociology Department and chairman of the Research
Council. He is also a professor at the École supérieure
des sciences fiscales and at the École des hautes études
commerciales (ICHEC). He is a specialist in public finance and taxation.
His research deals, in particular, with the taxation of investment
earnings, and fiscal and social competition between jurisdictions
that are not equally endowed, and their consequences in terms of
the location of businesses, the funding of the State, the distribution
of income, and employment. In addition, he has carried out various
studies dealing, among other things, with taxation and social security
on behalf of the Walloon Region and the European Commission.
Magali
VERDONCK, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve.
Les accords du Lambermont
:Pourquoi et comment ? (308 Kb, )
Ms. Magali Verdonck is a researcher at the Université Catholique
de Louvain. She is a specialist in public economics and is particularly
interested in fiscal federalism and intergovernmental financial
equalization. She has carried out studies on the funding of Belgian
federated entities, in particular Brussels. She was a consultant
in the political negotiations that led to the recent Saint-Polycarpe
Agreement.
|
 |
Albert
SOLÉ, University of Barcelona.
Mr. Albert Solé is a professor at the Department of Public
Finance of the University of Barcelona, and a researcher at the
Centre for Research on Fiscal Federalism and Regional Economics
at the Economic Institute of Barcelona of the same university. In
his publications and his work, he examines various aspects of fiscal
policy determination in a multilevel system of government, in particular
regional and local
financial policy in Spain. At various times, he has been a consultant
on these issues for the central government, autonomous communities
and local councils.
Pere
GALÍ, Catalonian Ministry of Economy and Finance, Barcelona.
LE FINANCEMENT DES COMMUNAUTES
AUTONOMES EN ESPAGNE (80 Kb, )
Mr. Pere Galí is secretary general for economic promotion
at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance of Catalonia. He previously
held management positions with a number of Spanish national and
multinational companies. He holds an MBA from
Barcelona's School of Management and Business Administration (ESADE).
|
 |
Guy
GILBERT, Université Paris X-Nanterre.
Les finances des collectivités
décentralisées et les
relations financières entre niveaux de collectivités
en France (271 Kb, )
Mr. Guy Gilbert is an associate professor of Economics at Université
Paris X- Nanterre, where he teaches public economics and public finance.
He headed GRALE, a network of some twenty teams of French and foreign
researchers working on local governments. Most of his publications
deal with the local public economy and local finance, and in particular,
taxation and transfers between local governments. He has done several
inter-national comparative studies in this field. |
 |
Laura
RAIMONDO, Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, Rome.
THE PROCESS OF DECENTRALISATION
IN ITALY: A FOCUS ON REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS
(199 Kb, )
Ms. Laura Raimondo is an expert in regional economic policies at the
Ministry of Finance of Italy. She is a member of the public investment
assessment unit. In this capacity, she coordinates the preparation
of the files submitted to the European Structural Fund. Before joining
the Ministry, she worked for several years at the World Bank, within
the Middle East and North Africa Directorate. |
 |
David
HEALD, Aberdeen University.
Decentralization in Some
Non-Federal Countries: The Case of the United Kingdom (712 Kb,
)
Mr. David Heald is professor of Accountancy and director of the Centre
for Regional Public Finance at the University of Aberdeen, where he
teaches management and public sector accountancy. His research deals,
among other things, with public expenditure, public sector accounting
and the funding of decentralized governments. He is a recognized expert
on the transfer of jurisdictions to the parliaments of Scotland, Northern
Ireland and Wales. He advises the Treasury Committee and the Scottish
Affairs Committee of the House of Commons and has served as a consultant
to various organizations around the world. |
Top of the page

Home | Québec Portal | To Contact us | Français
The Commission | Documents | Public hearings | Briefs received| Symposium
© Gouvernement du Québec, 2002
|