Public financial management (PFM) has gone through a period of intense change since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-2009 and its aftermath. The implications from the GFC alongside the Covid-19 crisis, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the associated energy crises have had profound implications for how countries conduct their fiscal, tax, and budgetary policies. There has also been a huge growth of interest in "green" fiscal policy, in the challenges of income and gender inequality, and in the management of public infrastructure, and in digitalization.
This book offers a deeper and more selective analysis of PFM topics that have either been profoundly affected by the GFC and subsequent crises or have dramatically transformed or evolved for other reasons. Itdiscusses the extent to which these developments have led to improvements in countries' fiscal and budgetary performance. Written by top academics or practitioners in the field, this book tackles the main issues of fiscal governance and its nexus with climate change, anti-corruption, and financial crisis. It will be of interest to academics, researchers, students, and practitioners of public financial management and public finance.
"With chapters from experienced practitioners and academics, this book successfully combines contemporary theorizing and practice across diverse countries. I commend it to political leaderships, finance ministries, practitioners, researchers and students."
-David Heald, University of Glasgow
"Up to the mid-2000s, PFM remained an obscure specialist subject, out of public view and often neglected. The financial crash changed all that. Since then, the importance of robust fiscal tools and institutions to buttress them has become well understood. This book tells us what we need to know."
-Lord Andrew Tyrie, former Chair, Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and Commons Treasury Committee, UK
"The success of PFM will greatly depend on the quality of institutions that govern it. This book is an essential read for policymakers and practitioners dedicated to improving fiscal outcomes and ensuring value for money."
-Njuguna Ndung'u, former Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury and Economic Planning, Kenya
"This book brings the topic of public financial management remarkably alive. I can hardly wait to use it in class, and to push students to think about how to apply the discussions in the book to policy issues they care about."
-Mark Hallerberg, Professor of Public Management and Political Economy, Hertie School, Berlin
Richard Allen is a senior consultant and global adviser on public finance. He has advised finance ministers and governments in more than 70 countries worldwide. Richard has held senior positions at HM Treasury, the Board of the European Investment Bank, the OECD, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the IMF.
Philipp Krause is a research fellow in German politics and government at the University of Potsdam, where he also teaches. He has held leadership positions at CABRI, Africa's network of ministries of finance, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and at ODI. He also held various appointments with the World Bank, GIZ, and the government of Mexico.
