Making the Most of Public Investment in a Tight Fiscal Environment: Multi-level Governance Lessons from the Crisis

During the crisis, many countries invested in infrastructure as part of their stimulus packages, and sub-national governments played an implementing role. This book examines the challenges faced in multi-level governance.

How to make the most of public investment? This question is critical in today’s tight fiscal environment. Given that sub-national governments in OECD countries carry out more than two thirds of total capital investment, they have played a key role in executing national stimulus packages during the global crisis. The effectiveness of recovery strategies based on public investment thus depends largely on the arrangements between levels of government to design and implement the investment mix.  This report provides an overview of challenges met in the recovery and highlights good practices and lessons learned, focusing on eight country cases: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States. As stimulus packages are being phased out since 2010, many countries have moved toward fiscal consolidation and targeted public investment as an adjustment variable. Co-ordination between levels of government was essential to implement recovery measures, and it is equally important to better prioritise reduced public investment and make the most of it for sustainable growth.

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PART I. OVERVIEW OF KEY CHALLENGES
-Sub-national governments: key implementers of public investment during the crisis
-Prioritising investment in crisis situations: key challenges
-Overcoming obstacles to implementation: the need for co-ordination
-Making the most of public investment in times of austerity
PART II. COUNTRY CASES
-Chapter 1. Australia
-Chapter 2. Canada
-Chapter 3. France
-Chapter 4. Germany
-Chapter 5. Korea
-Chapter 6. Spain
-Chapter 7. Sweden
-Chapter 8. United States