Foreword

The recent economic and financial crisis put intergovernmental fiscal relations into the limelight. Shrinking revenues and rising spending responsibilities forced many countries to reform their fiscal frameworks thoroughly in order to improve the sustainability of fiscal policy at each level of government. Evidence suggests that stable, sustainable, efficient and equitable public finances depend on effective functioning of intergovernmental fiscal and budgetary frameworks. Whereas reforms are still ongoing, seven years after the crisis it is time to take stock. How successful were intergovernmental fiscal institutions in weathering the fiscal crisis which reforms did they undertake how did reforms shape outcomes and which reforms still lie ahead?