Fiscal Federalism policy in OECD member countries
Jon Blondal

I have covered a wide range of subject areas in this talk. The overview of fiscal federalism arrangements in Member countries revealed that there is no single “OECD model” in place. The arrangements in individual Member countries are very diverse. The discussion of the major fiscal federalism issues facing Member countries revealed the vast array of considerations that have to be taken into account in designing successful fiscal federalism arrangements. My talk was necessarily general in nature, but I hope that it has highlighted and illuminated the key issues.

Brazil is not a member of the OECD, but has just recently become an observer on the public management committees at the OECD, including the Senior Budget Officials committee where fiscal federalism issues are discussed. I hope that the OECD may be of use to Brazil as it considers its fiscal federalism arrangements and I have no doubt that we will learn a great deal from Brazil's experiences in this area.

I would like to conclude by simply saying that institutional arrangements are of course very important, but that they do not by themselves guarantee success or failure. It is political will that in the end determines success or failure. Institutional arrangements can make it easier to achieve successful fiscal federalism outcomes if the political will is there, but they can never achieve successful fiscal federalism outcomes if the political will is not there.

Thank you very much.