The Antisocial Personalities

“The economic and political future of the developing world depends crucially on the ongoing processes of urbanization. The essays in this volume, by leading scholars intimately associated with these issues, provide a deep analysis of the critical role of metropolitan governance and financial structure in urbanization. It is the best treatment available: a wide-ranging and penetrating exploration of both theory and practice.” — Wallace E. Oates, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, University of Maryland

“This well-written and informative book will put local governments, especially in metropolitan areas, on the map of public finance, where they belong. The importance of global and local public finance has grown world-wide along with national public finance, which has received most of the attention in the past. This book will surely contribute to that change. It contains a wealth of hard-to-get information on issues that range from how particular cities are financed to the complex fiscal arrangements in China. It is definitely a must-read book for public finance scholars.” — Vito Tanzi, Former Director of Fiscal Affairs, International Monetary Fund

Johannes F. Linn is a senior resident fellow at the Emerging Markets Forum and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Deborah L. Wetzel is country director for Brazil at The World Bank.