Shah, Anwar

Person:
Shah, Anwar

Global Practice for Governance, The World Bank

Fields of Specialization

governance; public sector reform; budgetary accountability;

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Global Practice for Governance, The World Bank

Last updated January 31, 2023

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 12

Local Public Financial Management

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007) Shah, Anwar

This volume provides an overview of local government financial accounting and reporting and where better practices in cash management are documented. The use of transparent procurement processes to mitigate corruption is also elaborated on while practical guidance is imparted on how and when to use debt, how to assess debt affordability, what debt to use, how to issue debt, and how to manage debt. The use of internal controls and audits to ensure efficiency and integrity is highlighted in this volume with particular emphasis on the role of external audit in combating corruption. Audit methods to detect corruption are also presented and discussed. The volume represents a collaborative effort of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the World Bank Institute to support reform of the public expenditure management and financial accountability systems in developing countries, especially in Africa.
Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions

(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2007) Shah, Anwar

Budgetary institutions have historically played a critical role in a gradual movement toward responsive, responsible, and accountable public governance in industrial countries. This paper includes the following headings: overview; a primer on budgeting and budgetary institutions; the budget and its coverage; capital budgets -- theory and practice; budget methods and practices; a primer on performance budgeting; accrual accounting in the public sector -- lessons for developing countries; activity-based cost management in the public sector; budget preparation and approval; budget execution; automating public financial management in developing countries; what would an ideal public finance management system look like; strengthening public expenditure management Africa -- criteria, priorities, and sequencing; budgeting in post-conflict countries; country case study -- Kenya; and country case study -- South Africa.
Public Expenditure Analysis

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005) Shah, Anwar

This book provides tools of analysis for discovering equity in tax burdens as well as in public spending and judging government performance in its role in safeguarding the interests of the poor and those otherwise disadvantaged members of society, such as women, children, and minorities. The book further provides a framework for a rights-based approach to citizen empowerment-in other words, creating an institutional design with appropriate rules, restraints, and incentives to make the public sector responsive and accountable to an average voter. Various chapters in this book provide tools of analysis for addressing the following test questions: public burden test; poverty reduction test; social protection test; gender safeguard test; responsiveness test; and accountability test.
Local Governance in Industrial Countries

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006) Shah, Anwar

Local government refers to specific institutions or entities created by national constitutions (Brazil, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Japan, Sweden), by state constitutions (Australia, the United States), by ordinary legislation of a higher level of central government (New Zealand, the United Kingdom, most countries), by provincial or state legislation (Canada, Pakistan), or by executive order (China) to deliver a range of specified services to a relatively small geographically delineated area. Local governance is a broader concept and is defined as the formulation and execution of collective action at the local level. Thus, it encompasses the direct and indirect roles of formal institutions of local government and government hierarchies, as well as the roles of informal norms, networks, community organizations, and neighborhood associations in pursuing collective action by defining the framework for citizen-citizen and citizen-state interactions, collective decision making, and delivery of local public services.
Macro Federalism and Local Finance

(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008) Shah, Anwar

The book is divided into two parts. The first part macro federalism provides a fresh look at emerging constitutional challenges arising from globalization and the information revolution, as well as the dynamic-efficiency and growth implications of existing federal constitutions. Several aspects of these systems are examined: (a) institutional design to achieve internal economic union; (b) policies for regional development; (c) conduct of monetary policy; (d) coordination of fiscal policies, with a special emphasis on tax harmonization; and (e) management of risks of insolvency from sub-national borrowing. The second part of the book local finance provides a comparative perspective on local finances and measures the progress of decentralized governance reforms in developing countries.
Public Services Delivery

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005) Shah, Anwar ; Shah, Anwar

The globalization of information-satellite TV, internet, phone and fax-serves to enhance citizens' awareness of their rights, obligations, options and alternatives and strengthens demands for greater accountability from the public sector. However, the power of accountability is significantly reduced if citizens are unable to measure their government's performance in a meaningful way, which is precisely the topic of this timely book. The abstract concept of "government performance" can only be an effective tool in public debate when there are concrete statistics measuring performance and benchmarks against which current indicators can be compared. This publication offers a comprehensive view of government performance measurement. The first part examines systems or frameworks for measuring the performance of government at the national level and at local levels of government. The second part of the book focuses on particular sectors that form the core of essential government services: health, education, welfare, waste disposal, and infrastructure. This book provides powerful tools to: a) development practitioners to evaluate projects, b) to policymakers to reform their government's policies, and c) to public interest groups that wish to pressure their government for improvements in government services.
Fiscal Decentralization in Developing and Transition Economies: Progress, Problems, and the Promise

(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004-04) Shah, Anwar

The author discusses the revolution in public sector thinking that is transforming the public sectors of developing and transition countries. Countries are reconsidering their fiscal systems and searching for the right balance between central government control and decentralized governance. Political decentralization has advanced in most countries. Subnational expenditures in developing countries as a percentage of total public expenditures have also increased over the past two decades. However, the process is far from complete. In many countries, the central government is still involved in the delivery of local services, local governments have few sources of own-revenues, local governments have limited access to borrowing for capital projects, and the design of intergovernmental transfers does neither address regional fiscal equity nor convey appropriate incentives for fiscal discipline, improved service delivery performance, and accountability to citizens. Decentralized public governance can help realign public sector incentives through greater accountability to citizens, and attenuate the "democracy deficit" caused by globalization and the role of supranational institutions and regimes. However, this requires careful examination of the entire fiscal system. Elements of a comprehensive package of fiscal system reforms would include: (a) Clarifying roles of various levels of government in public service delivery; (b) Reassigning taxing responsibilities to ensure local revenue autonomy, accountability, and efficiency without endangering an internal common market; (c) Designing fiscal transfers to ensure regional fiscal equity and to create an enabling environment for innovative and competitive service delivery; (d) Facilitating responsible credit market access to subnational governments; (e) Designing institutional arrangements for intergovernmental fiscal relations to better coordinate policies; and (f) Aligning operational capacity with the authorizing environment through the "accountability for results" framework of public management.
Implementing Decentralized Local Governance: A Treacherous Road with Potholes, Detours, and Road Closures

(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004-06) Shah, Anwar ; Thompson, Theresa

During the past two decades, a silent revolution in public sector governance has swept across the globe aiming to move decision making for local public services closer to the people. The countries embracing and adapting to this silent revolution have had diverse motives and followed even more diverse approaches. This paper attempts to present a stylized view of the motivations and approaches used to strengthen local governance. The quest for the right balance, i.e. appropriate division of powers among different levels of government, is not always the primary reason for decentralizing. There is evidence that the decentralization decision may have more to do with short-term political considerations than the long-run benefits of decentralization. To take stock of progress worldwide, we take a comparative look at developments in political, fiscal and administrative decentralization for a selected group of countries. Most of the decentralization literature deals with normative issues regarding the assignment of responsibilities among different levels of government and the design of fiscal transfers. The process of decentralization has not received the attention it deserves as the best laid plans can fail due to implementation difficulties. We revisit major controversies regarding preferred approaches to obtaining a successful outcome. Key approaches examined are big push versus small steps; bottom up vs. top down; and uniform vs. asymmetric decentralization. Finally, Indonesia's 1999 big bang decentralization program is evaluated. The program should be commended for its achievements over a short period of time, however incentives are lacking for local governments to be accountable and responsive to their residents.
Public Services and Expenditure Need Equalization : Reflections on Principles and Worldwide Comparative Practices

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-03) Shah, Anwar

This paper reviews the conceptual challenges as well as lessons from worldwide experiences in implementing public services and expenditure need compensation in fiscal equalization transfers with a view to developing guidance for practitioners. The paper concludes that while in theory a strong case for a comprehensive fiscal equalization can be made, in practice fiscal need equalization as part of a comprehensive equalization program introduces significant complexity. This works against the simplicity, transparency and general acceptability of the program. This does not imply that fiscal need equalization should be abandoned in the interest of simplicity and transparency. Instead simplicity, transparency and local autonomy are preserved by having fiscal need equalization through public service oriented (specific purpose block transfers) output based fiscal transfers that impose no spending requirements for any functions or objects of expenditures. Such transfers contrast with traditional earmarked transfers, which impose conditions on spending for specific purposes or objects of expenditure and subsequent verification/certification of such expenditures. Such output-based block transfers would further enhance citizen based accountability for results and thereby offer potential for enhancing public confidence and trust in government operations.
Sponsoring a Race to the Top : The Case for Results-Based Intergovernmental Finance for Merit Goods

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-01) Shah, Anwar

Intergovernmental finance is a significant source of sub-national finance in most countries. In both industrial and developing countries, formula based "manna from heaven" general purpose transfers dominate but co-exist with highly intrusive micro-managed "command and control" specific purpose transfers. Both these types of transfers undermine political and fiscal accountability. Reforms to bring in design elements that incorporate incentives for results-based accountability are resisted by both donors and recipients alike. This is because the donors perceive such reforms as attempts at chipping away at their powers and recipients fear such programs will be intrusive. This paper presents conceptual and practical underpinnings of grant designs that could further simplicity, objectivity, and local autonomy objectives while furthering citizen-centric results-based accountability. The paper further highlights a few notable recent initiatives in both industrial and developing countries that embrace such directions for reform. The paper concludes that results-based intergovernmental finance offers significant potential to minimize tradeoffs between local autonomy and accountability while furthering access to merit goods.