@incollection{Zabler2021,
  author    = {Steffen Zabler},
  title     = {New Ways of Limiting Local Government Debt: An Empirical Assessment of the German Case},
  series = {The Future of Local Self-Government: European Trends in Autonomy, Innovations and Central-Local Relations},
  editor    = {Tomas Bergstr{\"o}m and Jochen Franzke and Sabine Kuhlmann and Ellen Wayenberg},
  publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan},
  address   = {Cham},
  isbn      = {978-3-030-56058-4},
  pages     = {243 -- 255},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Severe fiscal pressure experienced by some German municipalities has led to a shift in the way municipalities are controlled by the responsible state governments. Instead of purely relying on a system of approving budgets and borrowing, some states have established debt relief programmes which combine grants and sanctions, or even sent austerity commis-sioners who take over responsibilities of councils and mayors. Whether these are deemed proportionate and legitimate interventions into the constitutionally guaranteed administra-tive autonomy of the local level depends heavily on their success in limiting local government debt. Based on an innovative synthetic control approach, this paper undertakes an empirical assessment of a recent debt relief programme in North Rhine-Westphalia and the deploy-ment of an austerity commissioner, revealing that both instruments to some degree positive-ly impacted upon local government debt, as compared to non-intervention. Nevertheless, it finds the effect is limited in substantial terms.},
  language  = {en}
}