Blockchain Papers

Tara Merk, Sofia Cossar, Jamilya Kamalova

No abstract is available for this record.

Francisco Sorto Rivas

Starting from the historical importance that currency has had for commercial exchange; as a unit of account and asvalue reserve, coming to use this last attribute, even, as equivalent to the concept of wealth, forgetting the fact that money is only worth its purchasing power and that owning it would be meaningless, in the absence of the willingness of other people to accept it, in exchange for delivering property or providing some type of service.

Luis María Romero Flor

Tras más de una década de la aparición en el mercado de la primera moneda virtual no hay todavía una regulación legal sobre el régimen tributario de las operaciones de creación, posesión, adquisición y transmisión del bitocoin. Ha sido la doctrina administrativa la que ha ofrecido transitoriamente una línea argumental, más o menos evolucionada, en algunos aspectos, aunque insuficientes en otros, sobre su régimen tributario, integrando esta nueva realidad virtual en las categorías jurídicas clásicas previstas por nuestro ordenamiento tributario.

Giorgia Pavani

This article aims to compare some key statements and words from four constitutions in the Latin American region of countries that initially adopted the unitary form of state and the territorial organization of the French model, while subsequently developing different decentralization processes (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru). The words: plurinational, multicultural, communitary, autonomous, autonomy, unitary and indivisible will be counted (comparing the number of times each word appears in the constitutional texts) and their meaning will be analyzed in relation to decentralization processes of each country. We analyze this process through a dialog between political science and comparative law to better understand the Latin American decentralization trend and its impact on the circulation of the French model

Gabriela Ruales Orbes

The main objective of this study of the Participatory Budget (PB) in the “Gobierno Autónomo Descentralizado del Cantón Ibarra” (Imbabura,Ecuador), (Autonomous and Decentralized Government of the Canton Ibarra) is to evaluate to what extend the PB model implemented in the Ibarra canton meets the objectives of articulation between the cantonal government with the organized society and the redistribution public resources. The geographical category of the territory is the basis of the study; weather for the initial reading of the canton, such as the PB, the institutional organization, socialization or public debate, the redistribution of the public resources. Regarding the institutional organization, it was verified that the change of the 2008 Constitution and the rest of the National Legislation changed the PB process, which was already implemented in the canton since the end of the nineties. For this reason it went from a model of standards and local management with its particularities, to a standardized model by the Central Government of national scale. These modifications introduced by the PB made this process an instrument and more exactly, a competence of the GADs throughout the country, facilitating its application from a single standard. However, some of the characteristics and particularities of the local experience were not taken into account, resulting in a more dependent process of the cantonal government and the Central Government. There was no complementarity between local and national development.

Hilda Victoria Monroy-Olmos, Diana Marcela Bernal-Monroy

This article presents the result of an analysis on the measurement of compliance with the medium-term fiscal framework (MFMP) in the department of Boyaca, and has as its starting point, a review of the literature on the history and evolution of the concept of decentralization established by some authors from the seventeenth century until the epoch of neo - institutionalism and the approach both political, economic and political - administrative approach.Next, a brief review of the fiscal decentralization process in Colombia will be made, with reference to fiscal federalism - understood as the degree to which local tax decisions are decentralized; and finally, the effects of the structural reforms implemented in Colombia concerning fiscal decentralization and implications for fiscal responsibility and transparency in territorial entities; Finally, the methodology to be applied is presented, by means of which a descriptive analytical study is made to arrive at an explanatory study, in order to know how this form of organization has evolved in Colombia and its incidence in the department of Boyaca , focusing the study on compliance with the MFMP as the main tool of public finance planning.

Luis E. Torres-Núñez

The growing economic inability in Latin-American states to finance public universities, has positioned public funding as a common theme in almost all targeted reforms of higher education. Insufficient public resources are compromising the effectiveness of academic management in public universities, without knowing the key economic issues for strengthening public sector policies. This essay is intended to: propose a new system of criteria for funding of higher education; based on the analysis of the Venezuelan experience in allocations of public resources used to finance higher education institutions during the 2000-2015 period. It is a documentary research. The proposal contains seven (7) integrating elements that would lead to the establishment of a funding policy for higher education. Finally, it is suggested that the State exceeds the old negotiated "incremental “schemes, "rigid" budget formulas and deferred funding allocations, which fail to identify basic needs and costs associated to the academic management of higher education institutions, in terms of promoting efficiency, equity and decentralization in public funding for the Venezuelan higher education system.

Bruno Saboia de Albuquerque, Marcelo de Castro Callado

The objective of this work is to do a briefing about the digital currency named Bitcoins, as well as the general concept behind digital currencies and cryptocurrencies. Such currencies usage and public knowledge is increasing hastily on the last few months.

Anderson Henrique dos Santos Araújo

The present work aims to study the public finances and the economic behavior of Municipalities alagoanos between the years 1999/2010, using the fiscal and economic indicators commonly used. Therefore, it is considered the theoretical training of Public Finance, the influence of government in the economy to theoretical assumptions about the process of decentralization / centralization in Brazil. The Constitution of 1988 is a milestone in the pursuit of decentralized fiscal federalism, since from that moment, the municipalities now receive the status of a federated entity and had the largest increase in revenues and collection mechanisms itself. Thus, subnational, closer to the wishes of the population could more effectively meet the state's role in the production of public goods and the solution of the demands of the population. However, in the years after the Constitution of 1988, the political changes in the country, especially with Brazil's adherence to the neoliberal project, the advent of the plan and the actual enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Law, led to a new process of fiscal centralization in Brazil, with consequences for the 5565 Brazilian municipalities. In this context, it is statistically analyzed the finances and economy of the municipalities in Alagoas. The GDP of them indicate the growth of the service sector and centralization of wealth in a small number of cities, as well as the lack of dynamics in small towns, which the government has the primary component in your product. The analysis of municipal finances, with the support of development indicators and the index itself FIRJAN fiscal management, confirm the initial assumptions of the work: the low collection itself, high dependence on federal transfers, effort and compliance with the limits established by LRF for personnel expenses and low levels of investment. Thus, the main findings indicate that the decentralization process of the 1988 Constitution was undermined by the next decade, penalizing the poorest municipalities in case of most in Alagoas.

Alexander Tobón, Mauricio López González, Jenifer González

Fiscal decentralization process in Colombia has led to significant achievements in the financial management of municipalities, which can be followed using some main indicators. This article presents the fiscal performance of the municipality of Medellin through aggregated fiscal indicators and the estimation of two econometric models of sensitivity for investment expenditure and tax income. It is concluded that, although the municipality presents a healthy fiscal state, there is evidence for fiscal laziness and relaxation phenomena between 1998 and 2009 that can be justified by the increasing dependency of non-tax revenues. © 2012 Universidad ICESI. Publicado por Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved. Financas e gestao publica local na Colombia: no caso das Financas no municipio de Medellin

Rafael Gomez, Mauricio Olivera, Mario A. Velasco

After a century of political centralization in Colombia, the first public election of city mayors in 19861 began a decentralization trend, which was later reinforced by a constitutional reform in 1991. Subnational governments (departments and municipalities) were made responsible for the planning and management of social and economic development in their jurisdictions. Administrative and political reforms were accompanied by fiscal decentralization, including the transfer of central government revenues. Since 1991 the growth of fiscal transfers has accelerated. Departments and municipalities are now responsible for public health, education, water supply, and sanitation expenditures through earmarked transfers. Out of the total amount of central government expenditures (21.8 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2008) almost one-quarter represent regional transfers (5 percent of GDP), which finance half of all regional expenditures (10.2 percent of GDP). The purpose of this paper is to describe the budget process reform implemented in Medellin, and to analyze its actual performance and evaluate its success. The reform is changing the way public resources are allocated and executed, while gradually institutionalizing supply and demand-side practices beyond the government's political cycles. This paper describes and analyzes how the Results-oriented budgeting (RoB) was designed and implemented, and the achievements of the system to date, in terms of resource allocation and the policy-making process.

Jorge Vélez Vega

Peru is experiencing a deep political and fiscal decentralization process, especially since 2002. The newly created regional governments now share power and resources with the existing municipal governments as well as with the national or central government. The national government has transferred important responsibilities and fiscal resources to regional governments and also has reinforced local governments’ budgets. Both levels of subnacional governments have doubled their budget revenues in only five years. However, they are mostly financed by national government transfers instead of own collected taxes. This study analyzes in detail the functions as well as the fiscal resources of subnational governments in Peru. Based on this analysis, a set of proposals to increase direct income sources for both levels of government are discussed.

Henry Rodriguez Sosa

This article discusses the importance of the Colombian decentralization process in recent decades as a central axis bearing the tax side: revenues and expenditures of central government and the local authorities. The author makes it clear that despite the advantages of this system in Colombia are multiple problems due to gaps in the regulation of various aspects of reality and especially in the field of finance, taxation and spending. In recent decades, decentralization has brought the phenomenon of overflow discharges from local authorities based on an unlimited autonomy, so the National Government, together with the Congress, has issued various rules to clean up finances at the central, regional and local levels.

Juan C. Chaparro, Michael Smart, Juan Gonzola Zapata

For the past fifteen years, Colombia has been engaged in a grand experiment in decentralization. Since 1986, subnational government spending has increased dramatically, as the regions have assumed greater control of health and education programs and other local services, and an increasing fraction of national revenues have been earmarked for transfer to lower-level governments. This paper examines fiscal data for a large number of Colombian municipalities for the 1985-99 period. Our first goal is to describe the effects of the transfer system on horizontal balance among municipalities. By our estimates, the fiscal capacities of Colombian municipalities differ substantially, which is a major challenge to designing an effective system of decentralization. Our second goal is to draw some inferences from the data about how the current system of transfers has affected the level of local taxation and spending, and the pattern of spending across functional categories. Our data cover a period that straddles the major reform in the allocation of municipal transfers that resulted from Law 60 in 1993. This permits a more accurate assessment of the effects of transfers than has been possible in previous research.

Armando Barrios Ross

espanolEn ausencia de un margen significativo para la descentralizacion plena de los principales tributos en Venezuela, la consecucion de los beneficios esperados de la descentralizacion amerita discutir que tipo de diseno institucional deben tener sus mecanismos de financiamiento. En mi entender, el reto fundamental para los responsables de ese diseno consiste en incorporar en esos mecanismos los incentivos apropiados para que los distintos actores coordinen sus acciones y promuevan la participacion de la sociedad civil en la toma de decisiones colectivas. Esto exige desarrollar una cultura intergubernamental cooperativa. La viabilidad de una cultura intergubernamental cooperativa solo sera sostenible cuando se internalice la nocion de que los recursos generados por los tributos de administracion centralizada no pertenecen exclusivamente al gobierno nacional, sino que deben ser derramados en toda la extension del territorio venezolano, de acuerdo con una mezcla de criterios redistributivos, de eficiencia asignativa y respetando el desarrollo socioeconomico balanceado. Esto es mas probable si prevalece la perspectiva de que figuras como el situado, las asignaciones economicas especiales y el Fides representan mecanismos de coparticipacion en los ingresos fiscales del pais y no simples transferencias desde el gobieno central. Asi, al interpretar los mecanismos intergubernamentales de financiamiento como modalidades de coparticipacion sobre unos recursos fiscales generados en todo el territorio, las relaciones intergubernamentales se hacen mas horizontales, aun cuando se siga reconociendo al gobierno central como un primu inter pares. EnglishGiven the fact that there is not a significant margin for full decentralization of the main taxes in Venezuela, achieving the expected benefits of decentralization requires to discuss what kind of institutional design should have its financing mechanisms. In my view, the fundamental challenge for the policy-makers is to built-in these mechanisms with the appropriate incentives for different levels of government coordination and civil society participation in the process of collective decisions making. This requirement implies to develop an intergovernmental cooperative culture. The viability of an intergovernmental cooperative culture will be sustainable to the extent the venezuelan society internalize the notion that central administered taxes do not belong exclusively to the national government. On the contrary, these resources must be spread through the whole national territory, according to a blend of redistributive, assignative and economic equilibrium criteria. This is more likely if there is a prevalent perspective that policy instruments such as the situado, the special economic assignments and Fides represent revenue-sharing mechanisms, and not just transfers from the central government. In such a way, interpreting the ingovernmental financial mechanisms as co-sharing devises over the fiscal resources produced in the whole territory, the intergovernmental relations become more horizontal, although we recognize the central government as a primu inter pares.

Richard M. Bird, Ariel Fiszbein

As in a number of other countries in Latin America, prolonged and sometimes violent conflict between “centralists” and “federalists” occurred in Colombia during the latter part of the nineteenth century. As in most of the continent, the centralists won. Despite marked regional differences and persistent strong regional identities fostered by the difficulties of travel in a country broken up by mountainous terrain, Colombia's governing structure remained highly centralized until very recently. The central government (and its many “decentralized” agencies) not only controlled almost all public revenues and expenditures but also, outside of the largest cities, virtually supplanted the traditional territorially based governments, the departments and municipalities, in providing even the most local of services. Little scope and little reward existed for local initiative, and the most successful local politicians were those who could best exploit the labyrinthine central government system for the benefit of their constituents. By the late 1970s, however, this system had begun to break down, for two reasons. First, and most importantly, central government finances were increasingly strained by the task of financing the expansion of local public services to an increasingly urbanized population. This strain was perhaps felt earlier and more strongly in Colombia than in other Latin American countries owing to the country's long tradition of maintaining a relatively stable and conservative central government fiscal policy. Second, the highly centralized system was also contributing to political unrest, as such critical services as water, education, and health were failing to reach large segments of Colombian society.

Mitchell Tracy

No abstract is available for this record.