Intergovernmental financial relations in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The main emphasis is on the financial relations between central and local government in the United Kingdom. The opportunity is taken to draw on the large amount of information published in 1976 as a consequence of the first major official inquiry into local finances for some fifty years. Attention is also given to the financial implications of the proposals for devolution of power to new Scottish and Welsh Assemblies. Although the mono graph primarily relates to intergovernmental financial matters in the U.K., parallels are drawn from time to time with other countries and there is also some examination of the common underlying theoretical issues. After holding academic posts in the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester, the author took up his present position as Professor of Economics (with special reference to the Public Sector) at the London School of Economics in 1970. He has written a variety of books and articles in the field of public finance and has been both a Visiting Professor and a Visiting Fellow of the Australian National University.