Local Finance: Economic principles, institutions and the Portuguese experience since 1987

This volume is a study on the economic and institutional foundations of Portuguese public finances at the local level. Based on 32 years of qualitative and numerical information at the individual and aggregate level on the respective authorities, it depicts the accounts resulting from the political and economic activity developed by the local public sector. The work goes beyond the conventional cash-based data and the Maastricht debt indicator to discuss the robustness of the economic and budgetary environment. Legal norms, institutional characteristics, accounting concepts and principles of economic analysis are convened to interpret the developments of the accounts and to assess the systemic strengths and weaknesses of that framework. The causes and policy responses to the financial challenges of the last eight years deserve particular attention. The economic analysis of past experience concludes lessons to be taken into account in order to improve the future framework.