On the Go
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

Andrew Young School Dean Roy Bahl visited Indonesia in June as a fiscal advisor to the government. Also that month, he spoke on "Two-Rate Taxation: The Mexican Experience and Its Implications" in Tijuana, Mexico, on behalf of The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Bahl traveled to Tokyo in July to give a lecture for the Asian Development Bank Center; to Denpasar, Bali, to present a seminar on law, trade and decentralization at Udayana University; and to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to give a lecture on special autonomous regions at Syiah Kuala University. He traveled to South Africa in August to lecture at University of the Witwatersrand and do advisory work for the Ministry of Local Government.

John D. Hogan, professor of finance and economics, received the Medal of Merit for Educational Contribution from the Poznan University of Economics and the Polish Ministry of Education during the university's academic-year inauguration ceremony Oct. 6.

Susan Laury, assistant professor of economics and senior associate in the Environmental Policy Program, presented "Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects" and "Dry-2K: Designing a Market to Purchase Irrigation Permits from Georgia Farmers" at the CNRS Summer School in Experimental Economics in July in Lyon, France.

Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, director of the Andrew Young School's International Studies Program, traveled to Mexico in June 2000 with the World Bank to advise the new Mexican government on the implementation of tax reform.

John Thomas, chair of the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies, visited the Institute for Management and Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 16-20 where he discussed possible collaborations with Rector Viktor Gnevco.

Mary Beth Walker, associate professor of economics, received a grant from the U.S. Information Agency in Mexico for travel to the University of Guanajuato in July. She and a colleague at that institution are examining agglomeration economies and technology spillovers for foreign firms located in Mexico.

Public administration and urban studies professor Bill Waugh visited the Three Gorges dam project in central China in May and toured the portion of the Yangtze River that will be flooded as part of a flood mitigation and hydroelectric power project. Some of his observations will be presented at a conference designed to coordinate with the opening of a disaster research center at the University of Seoul this fall.

Yongsheng Xu, associate professor of economics, presented "Procedures and Choices" and "On Measuring Multi-Dimensional Deprivation on the Basis of Aggregate Data" at the Fifth International Conference of Social Choice and Welfare Society June 28-July 2 in Alicante, Spain.

Joint World Bank training program draws international audience

More than two dozen participants from every continent and several donor agencies gathered in Atlanta in July and August to learn how to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth during an intensive training program sponsored by the Andrew Young School and the World Bank Institute.

The Fiscal Decentralization and Subnational Government Budgeting Training Program, held on the Georgia State University campus, drew central and local government officials and policy makers from Bulgaria, Eritrea, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. Six public-sector specialists from Indonesia attended, as well as officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Capital Development Fund and the World Bank. The mayor or Budapest participated via satellite.

Directed by Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, director of the Andrew Young School's International Studies Program, the training sessions consisted of two two-week courses, "Subnational Budgeting for Poverty Reduction" and "Fiscal Decentralization in Developing and Transition Economies." Sessions on poverty reduction focused on enhancing government officials' knowledge of public budgeting systems and formats, as well as financial management practices such as cash and debt management, performance-based budgeting and capital budgeting. Sessions on fiscal decentralization included an overview of the theoretical and applied dimensions of intergovernmental fiscal relations, including expenditure assignments, revenue assignments, transfers and subnational borrowing. Other lectures focused on specific fiscal policy issues, such as sharing responsibilities for education between different levels of government; revenue opportunities for subnational governments; and stimulating regional economic growth through tax incentives and subsidies.

The courses will be offered annually during the summer months. For more information, see the International Studies Program training page.