Fiscal policy is critical to the development of poor countries. Public spending on pro poor services and public goods must be increased, tax revenues must be mobilized, and macro economic stabilization must be achieved without inhibiting growth, poverty reduction and post conflict reconstruction. This book provides both a comprehensive and balanced guide to the current policy debate and new results on the development impact of fiscal policies. It is essential reading for students of development economics as well as all those seeking to improve policy effectiveness. CHRISTOPHER ADAM Department of Economics, University of Oxford, UK DAVID BEVAN University Lecturer in Economics, University of Oxford, UK SONIA BHALOTRA Reader in Economics, University of Bristol, UK ABDUR CHOWDHURY Director of the Economic Analysis Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva, Switzerland MICK FOSTER Mick Foster Economics Ltd, UK ADRIAN FOZZARD Senior Public Sector Specialist, World Bank, East Asia and Pacific Region NORMAN GEMMELL School of Economics, University of Nottingham, UK CHRISTOPHER HEADY Head of Tax Policy and Statistics, OECD, France NIELS HERMES Department of Financial Management, University of Groningen, The Netherlands RAGHBENDRA JHA Australia South Asia Research Centre, Australian National University, Australia ROBERT LENSINK Faculty of Economics, University of Groningen, The Netherlands MARK MCGILLIVRAY Senior Research Fellow and Project Director, UNU/WIDER, Helsinki, Finland ANDREW MCKAY Profess or of Economics, University of Bath, UK OLIVER MORRISSEY Director of Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade, University of Nottingham, UK MANSOOB MURSHED Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands LEONCE NDIKUMANA Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA RITVA REINIKKA Research Manager, Development Research Group, World Bank, USA JAKOB SVENSSON Research Fellow, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden