Type of the article: Research Article AbstractVertical fiscal imbalance within fiscal decentralization systems and the growing scale of green fiscal spending raise crucial questions about how fiscal structure and environmentally oriented government spending shape green economic growth. This study aims to investigate the impact of vertical fiscal imbalance and green fiscal spending on green economic growth in Indonesia from 2010 to 2022. A descriptive-quantitative approach and econometric methods, including Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS), were applied to panel data from 33 provinces in Indonesia, 2010 to 2022. The descriptive-quantitative results show that regions with high levels of industrialization tend to produce high carbon emissions, and regions receiving special autonomy funds tend to have high vertical fiscal imbalance. The results of the FMOLS and DOLS estimates confirm that vertical fiscal imbalance has a significant negative impact on green economic growth, thereby weakening the effect of green capital on green economic growth, with coefficients of –0.0731 (FMOLS) and –0.0115 (DOLS). Conversely, based on the FMOLS results, green fiscal spending has a positive impact on green economic growth, strengthening the effect of green capital on green economic growth with a coefficient of 0.0331. Strengthening the fiscal capacity of local governments through increased own-source revenues and better collaboration between central and local governments to support sustainable green economic growth is needed. AcknowledgmentsWe gratefully acknowledge the support of Universitas Syiah Kuala, which provided funding for this research (PRUUPD) under research contract number 453/UN11.2.1/PG.01.03/SPK/PTNBH/2024, dated May 3rd, 2024.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis study examines Somalia’s post-debt relief governance and debt sustainability to identify the institutional and fiscal reforms needed to preserve debt sustainability in fragile states. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines a qualitative systematic literature review with a debt sustainability analysis by using the IMF-World Bank Low Income Country Debt Sustainability Framework (LIC DSF). Somalia’s debt position improved markedly after HIPC relief: external debt declined from 64 % of GDP in 2018 to 6.4 % in 2023 and is projected to remain below 6 % of GDP during 2024-2028. In the baseline scenario, the present value of external debt averages about 5 % of GDP, well below the 30 percent threshold for countries with weak debt-carrying capacity. Debt service indicators also remain low, with debt service-to-exports below 1.2 % and debt service-to-revenue below 4.5 % through 2028. Standardized stress tests, by contrast, push debt service above its indicative ceilings, which supports a moderate rather than a low-risk rating. Yet many peer countries in Sub-Saharan Africa still face precarious debt positions, with numerous low-income nations at high risk or already in debt distress. Sustaining this outlook will depend on continued governance reforms, fiscal discipline, and transparent borrowing that strengthen institutional capacity and resilience to future shocks.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThe growing importance of renewable energy in ensuring energy security and sustainable development has increased attention to the role of public finance, particularly at the regional level. This study aims to assess whether different categories of regional public expenditure are associated with renewable energy development in Ukraine, distinguishing between installed capacity and electricity generation. The analysis is based on a balanced panel dataset for 25 Ukrainian regions over 2018–2021 and applies two-way fixed effects models with lagged specifications and Driscoll–Kraay standard errors. The results show that expenditures on electric transport exhibit the strongest positive association with installed renewable energy capacity (β ≈ 0.078, p < 0.001), followed by SME support (β ≈ 0.025, p < 0.001), other environmental activities (β ≈ 0.017, p < 0.001), and natural resource management (β ≈ 0.013, p < 0.001). In contrast, most general economic expenditures are not statistically significant, suggesting that these expenditure categories are not statistically associated with higher renewable energy development within the analyzed period. For renewable electricity production, contributions to the statutory capital of enterprises are positively associated (β ≈ 0.006, p < 0.05), while co-financing of investment projects is negatively associated (β ≈ −0.027, p < 0.001), reflecting implementation lags. Additionally, capital investments in environmental protection are negatively associated with renewable electricity production (β ≈ −0.072, p < 0.001), suggesting that installed capacity expansion differs from renewable electricity production. AcknowledgmentThe authors acknowledge funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [Grant No. IZURZ1_224119]. The authors bear sole responsibility for the conclusions and results of the research.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractProvincial financial assistance is a distinct but under-examined tier of Indonesia’s intergovernmental transfer system, sitting alongside the national village fund and the regency village fund allocation. This is a theoretical policy analysis of the design of West Java’s provincial assistance to villages in Bogor Regency, a flat grant of IDR 130 million per village. The aim is to assess, against fiscal federalism and administrative burden theory, whether a uniform per-village transfer is an appropriate design for a recipient population that is highly heterogeneous in development status. The analysis draws only on official regulations, budget records, and published statistics for 2017–2025, with no primary survey or interview data. Three design properties are examined: the allocation rule, the disbursement procedure, and the participation channel. The analysis shows that the flat rule directs a proportionally smaller fiscal share to lower-capacity villages than to higher-capacity ones, that the multi-step disbursement procedure generates an administrative burden disproportionate to the grant’s modest size, and that no regulation between 2017 and 2025 provides any channel for villages to participate in setting the amount, the earmarks, or the procedure. The grant equals only about 13.8% of the average national village fund, yet imposes a comparable compliance load. The study concludes that the appropriate reform is not a larger grant but a redesigned one: a basic-plus-need allocation formula, a simplified and digitalized disbursement process with a binding calendar, and an institutionalized consultative forum. The framework is transferable to other provinces operating uniform village grants.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThe purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between tax burden, income, and the level of poverty in rural areas of Kazakhstan. Panel regional data are analyzed for the period 2010–2024, obtained from the Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan and the State Revenue Committee. The methodological framework includes regression analysis and econometric modeling. Five models were constructed showing that the growth of the gross regional product has a positive association with the incomes of the rural population (β = 0.927, p < 0.001). On the contrary, the relationship with the tax burden is statistically insignificant (β = 0.001). The study showed that before the 2018 tax reform, the fictitious indicator was β = –0.014; after that, β = 0.251, indicating a structural shift in household incomes of about 25–29%. The regional resource-based model shows that in non-oil regions, the tax burden is positive (β = 0.014), whereas in oil regions, it is statistically significant but negative (–0.021). The results suggest that higher GRP levels are not statistically associated with corresponding improvements in rural income indicators and poverty rates. In these cases, it is necessary to undertake comprehensive actions to improve the social well-being of the rural population, including strengthening the institutional environment, promoting regional economic development, and ensuring equitable distribution of benefits from economic growth.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis study examines whether district-level public expenditures on education, health, and infrastructure enhance human development and reduce income inequality across 33 regencies/municipalities in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The study is situated within the context of fiscal decentralization, where local government spending is expected to improve basic service provision, yet substantial territorial disparities in welfare outcomes and fiscal capacity remain. Employed balanced panel data over the short 2021-2023 period, this study applies descriptive regional mapping, Hodrick–Prescott trend filtering, and panel regression models. Model selection is conducted using the Chow, Hausman, and Lagrange Multiplier tests. The trend analysis indicates positive associations between basic service expenditures and the Human Development Index (HDI), with infrastructure expenditure showing the strongest trend correlation, followed by health and education expenditures. However, the preferred random effects model reveals that education and infrastructure expenditures have positive but statistically insignificant effects on HDI, while health expenditure shows a negative and statistically insignificant coefficient. Poverty exerts a statistically significant negative effect on HDI, highlighting structural deprivation as a key constraint on human development. For income inequality, the preferred fixed effects model shows that infrastructure expenditure significantly reduces the Gini index, while GRDP per capita also has a significant inequality-reducing effect. These findings suggest that increasing public expenditure alone is insufficient to achieve inclusive development. Fiscal policy must therefore prioritize expenditure quality, spatial targeting, and implementation capacity to transform public budgets into equitable improvements in human development and income distribution. AcknowledgmentsThe authors gratefully acknowledge funding support from the Scientific Publication Program of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), as well as institutional support that contributed to the completion of this research.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractStatic personal income tax governance in fast-growing economies can produce systematic equity erosion, as nominally fixed deductions and brackets gradually increase the effective tax burden on low- and middle-income households during periods of sustained income growth. This study develops a dynamic equity framework for evaluating personal income tax (PIT) design and applies it to Vietnam’s 2026 PIT reform as an illustrative case. Drawing on welfare economics, optimal tax theory, and contextual equity arguments, the study constructs a normative framework that treats PIT parameters as adaptive variables and evaluates reform effects using welfare-theoretic criteria. The framework identifies equity lag, defined as the divergence between a fixed PIT schedule and evolving economic conditions, as a central governance failure. The Vietnam case suggests that five years of parameter stagnation are consistent with the emergence of a systematic equity lag among low- and middle-income formal workers, a pattern illustrated through simulation analysis rather than full empirical validation. In this sense, the deduction increases may be interpreted as a Kaldor-Hicks welfare improvement concentrated in the lower and middle portions of the formal wage distribution. However, a one-time adjustment without an embedded updating mechanism is unlikely to prevent the recurrence of equity lag as growth and inflation resume. Sustaining distributional gains, therefore, requires a shift from episodic legislative correction to adaptive PIT governance through indexation rules, mandatory review schedules, and regionally calibrated deduction thresholds.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThe study aims to assess changes in the influence of macroeconomic factors on government revenues and the transfor-mation of their interrelationships under wartime structural shocks in Ukraine. Two periods are considered: the first period (2017–2020) serves as the baseline for comparison, while the second period (2022–2025) captures the structural shifts associated with the full-scale war. The methodological framework combines correlation and regression analyses, supplemented by a pooled regression with a wartime dummy variable to assess structural differences between periods, and by logarithmic transformations of variables to enhance economic interpretability. The findings indicate a substantial transformation in the relationships between macroeconomic indicators and State Budget revenues within the relatively short wartime observation period (2022–2025). During the baseline period, the model shows limited explanatory power (R2 = 0.43) and no statistically significant coefficients, reflecting the distributed nature of factor influence. In the wartime period, the explanatory power of the model increases to R2 = 0.83; however, it is accompanied by a sharp rise in multicollinearity (VIF for GDP: 38.5; for imports: 22.3), limiting the identification of the individual contribution of explanatory variables and suggesting stronger co-movement among macroeconomic indicators. The logarithmic model suggests that GDP may serve as an aggregate indicator reflecting broader macroeconomic dynamics associated with State Budget revenues, while the elasticity of State Budget revenues with respect to GDP equals 1.4, indicating heightened fiscal sensitivity under crisis conditions. The results suggest that macroeconomic indicators exhibit a more coordinated pattern of interaction in explaining State Budget revenues, within which their interrelationships intensify and acquire a systemic character.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis study examines the short-run and long-run relationship between fiscal deficit and economic growth in Uzbekistan over 2000–2025, with explicit attention to the structural reform dynamics introduced by the 2017 economic liberalization program. To achieve this aim, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach is combined with the Zivot-Andrews endogenous structural break test. The bounds test confirms a stable cointegrating relationship (F = 8.947, exceeding the 1% upper bound), thereby fulfilling the study's aim of establishing a long-run equilibrium link between fiscal deficit and growth. The results show that the fiscal deficit exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on growth in both the short (β = 0.178) and the long run (β = 0.242): a one-percentage-point increase in the deficit raises long-run growth by about 0.24 percentage points. The 2017 reform dummy carries a significant negative coefficient (β = –6.196), quantifying the short-term adjustment cost of the transition, while the Zivot-Andrews test independently dates structural breaks in the exchange rate and domestic credit to 2017. Among the controls, domestic credit raises growth (β = 0.146), whereas inflation (β = –0.189) and exchange rate depreciation (β = –1.365) reduce it; the error-correction term (ω = –1.862) indicates rapid convergence to equilibrium. These findings confirm all research hypotheses and support the Keynesian view, while demonstrating that fiscal policy effectiveness in transition economies is conditional on accompanying structural reforms, macroeconomic stability, and financial development.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractPublic debt has emerged as a critical macroeconomic issue in many Asian economies, where persistent trade imbalances and inflation volatility continue to exacerbate fiscal pressures. A clear understanding of the causal mechanisms linking these factors to public debt is therefore essential for effective fiscal and monetary policymaking. This study examines the causal effects of trade deficits and inflation on public debt using balanced panel data from 31 Asian countries over the period 2005–2022, where annual observations from all countries were combined into a pooled panel dataset for econometric estimation. To capture both long-run and short-run dynamics, the analysis employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the Cross-Sectionally Augmented ARDL (CS-ARDL) approach.The empirical findings reveal that trade balance and inflation exert statistically significant long-run effects on public debt. Improvements in the trade balance are associated with a substantial reduction in public debt, while higher inflation is also linked to lower public debt levels in the long run. In the short run, changes in the trade balance do not have a significant impact, while inflation effects remain negative but statistically insignificant. The error correction term (–0.196) indicates a relatively rapid adjustment toward long-run equilibrium. Panel causality test results further reveal bidirectional relationships among public debt, trade balance, and inflation, implying mutual feedback effects. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of improving trade performance and maintaining stable inflation to support long-term debt sustainability in Asian economies.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractRegional transfers are a key instrument of regional fiscal policy that promote balanced development and reduce disparities across districts, yet the behavioral responses of local governments to these inflows remain insufficiently understood. This study examines how regional transfer fund allocations influence government expenditure, unemployment, infrastructure development, and regional revenue in West Sumatra using quarterly data for 2014–2024. A Bayesian Vector Autoregressive framework is employed to address small-sample limitations and to capture the dynamic responses to transfer shocks. The results show that increases in regional transfers have limited, short-lived effects on unemployment, while capital expenditure on basic infrastructure declines, indicating potential crowding-out of certain government spending categories. At the same time, regional revenue responds positively, suggesting that transfers can support local fiscal capacity in the short term. These findings highlight that, although regional transfers can facilitate immediate fiscal stabilization, they may hinder long-term infrastructure investment unless accompanied by performance-based fiscal mechanisms. Improving transfer design and accountability is therefore essential to ensure that fiscal resources promote sustainable development outcomes. AcknowledgmentsThis research is a grant from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia under the Impactful Leading Consortium Research Scheme (RIKUB Scheme) in accordance with research contract number 008/C3/DT.05.00/RIKUB/2025.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractLebanon is characterized by a fragile economy, rising deficit, and low compliance. Tax deviance poses a major drain to public finances and undermines fiscal sustainability, particularly in the Lebanese context, where the quality of the tax framework directly influences taxpayer behavior. Hence, understanding the mechanisms by which tax legislation and administration shape the intent to defraud is crucial for strengthening tax compliance. This paper examines the influence of the tax framework, namely tax legislation and administration, on tax evasion intentions, with a focus on the mediating role of taxpayer preparedness. The analysis adopts a quantitative approach, using a questionnaire administered to 318 SMEs registered as taxpayers in the Akkar area, employing simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, followed by structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. The results reveal that tax legislation has a direct effect on evasion intention (β = 0.466; p < 0.001), while tax administration exerts a moderate direct influence (β = 0.148). Taxpayer preparedness emerged as a primary determinant with a strong direct impact (β = 0.744) and a proven mediating role between tax legislation (β = 0.098), tax administration (β = 0.012), and tax evasion. These findings corroborated that evasion is a causal process in which individual preparedness is key to enhancing compliance. Effective tax policies must incorporate targeted actions on tax education and procedural simplification. Consequently, the study advocates for a transition from coercive to educational tax policies, emphasizing that a comprehensive institutional overhaul is required to rebuild trust in Lebanon’s fiscal system.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis paper aims to quantitatively assess the functional capacity of local self-government (LSG) budgets to implement green economy strategies. This study uses longitudinal budget data from Turkestan, an administrative region of Kazakhstan (2019–2024), applying correlation and regression modeling. Four econometric models were constructed to define the dependencies between total revenues, transfers, tax yields, and expenditures of rural administrations.The empirical analysis identifies a critical level of vertical fiscal imbalance: the correlation between aggregate revenue (D01) and external transfers (TR-P) reached r = 0.991 (p < 0.01). Regression diagnostics confirm that 98.1% of revenue variance and 98.4% of expenditure variance are dictated by centralized subventions. The study uncovers a state of “budgetary mirroring” (a coefficient of 0.9938 in the expenditure-to-revenue model), in which approximately 99.4% of every tenge received is immediately absorbed by operational costs, effectively neutralizing long-term investment in ecotourism infrastructure. Conversely, an endogenous growth lever was detected: a strong correlation (r = 0.898) between tax yields and the sale of fixed assets. A second-order polynomial model (R² = 0.933) reveals a compounding acceleration in local tax generation, suggesting that the region has reached a fiscal inflection point with the potential to transition toward a self-sustaining development model.To transform ecotourism into a sustainable economic driver, rural governance must shift from a “survivalist” management model to one of active asset stewardship. We recommend reforming transfer architectures to include performance-based grants specifically earmarked for green infrastructure and the commercialization of municipal property.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractBudgetary slack continues to pose governance challenges in public sector budgeting, including in government systems operating under Islamic principles. This study investigates the effects of budget participation, budget emphasis, information asymmetry, and group cohesiveness on budgetary slack and examines the moderating role of Islamic religiosity within a Sharia-based public governance system in Aceh, Indonesia. Survey data were collected from 319 provincial, district, and city government officials directly involved in budget preparation and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that budget participation (β = 0.187; p = 0.004), budget emphasis (β = 0.235; p < 0.001), information asymmetry (β = 0.249; p < 0.001), and group cohesiveness (β = 0.118; p = 0.049) positively and significantly influence budgetary slack, with the model explaining 54.2% of its variance (R² = 0.542). Islamic religiosity also shows a positive direct effect and significantly strengthens the relationships between budget participation and budgetary slack (β = 0.161; p = 0.003) and between information asymmetry and budgetary slack (β = 0.168; p < 0.001), while it does not moderate the effects of budget emphasis or group cohesiveness. These results suggest that religiosity does not function as a structural safeguard against discretionary budgeting behavior. Instead, agency incentives and information asymmetry remain central in shaping budget outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of reinforcing transparency, accountability frameworks, and internal control systems in Islamic-based municipal and provincial governments to enhance public financial governance. AcknowledgmentThis study was supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (Penelitian Disertasi Doktor) for Fiscal Year 2024 from the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), under Contract No. 600/UN11.2.1/PG.01.03/SPK/DRTPM/2024.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractIn emerging economies, the integration of environmental considerations into fiscal policy analysis has emerged as a priority of sustainable development strategies. This paper seeks to investigate the asymmetric short- and long-term impacts of the budget deficit on CO₂ emissions per capita in Morocco from 1974 to 2022. A nonlinear ARDL model is employed to identify asymmetric fiscal dynamics over the period under study. The estimation results indicate that, in the short run, an increase in the budget deficit immediately and significantly reduces CO₂ emissions per capita (−0.0046; p < 0.05), while the delayed effect of this increase significantly increases emissions in the following period (0.0068; p < 0.05), revealing opposing dynamics and instability in the short-term adjustment process. Conversely, the immediate and delayed effects of negative changes in the deficit do not exert statistically meaningful short-run effects (p > 0.10). In the long run, both increases and decreases in the budget deficit reduce emissions (−0.0075; p < 0.05; −0.0171; p < 0.01, respectively), with a stronger effect associated with deficit reductions. The results also show that urbanization significantly reduces emissions (–0.0168; p < 0.05), whereas fossil fuel consumption increases them (0.0003; p < 0.05). In contrast, GDP per capita, along with inward FDI inflows, fails to demonstrate statistical significance over the long-term horizon (p > 0.05). These results underscore the nonlinear and asymmetric nature of the fiscal policy and environmental quality nexus, suggesting that prudent budget management can promote sustainable environmental outcomes.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractMoney laundering threatens global financial integrity, while digital governance is increasingly seen as a tool to enhance transparency and regulatory capacity. This study operationalized digital governance through the United Nations E-Government Development Index, which captures the scope and quality of online public services, telecommunications infrastructure, and human capital. The paper aims to examine whether improvements in e-government development are associated with measurable reductions in systemic money-laundering vulnerabilities at the country level. The study uses an unbalanced panel of 171 countries for 2012–2024 (982 observations). Fixed- and random-effects models with Box–Cox transformations were estimated, with the Hausman test guiding model selection and cluster-robust and Driscoll–Kraay standard errors ensuring reliable inference. The results demonstrate a statistically significant and economically meaningful inverse relationship between e-government development and money-laundering risk, measured by the Basel AML Index. In the preferred fixed-effects specification, the coefficient on the transformed EGDI is –1.56 (p < 0.001), indicating that within-country improvements in digital governance capacity are associated with substantial reductions in AML vulnerability over time. This effect remains robust across alternative error structures, with 95% confidence intervals of [–1.96, –1.17] under cluster-robust estimation and [–1.75, –1.38] under Driscoll–Kraay correction. The inclusion of country-specific fixed effects reveals considerable structural heterogeneity in baseline AML risk (approximately 1.15–3.90), while time effects display limited variation over the sample period (approximately 2.11–2.19), confirming that the risk-reducing role of digital governance is not driven by specific countries or particular years. AcknowledgmentThis article was prepared based on the results of a study funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, “GovTech for Ukraine: A Digital, Secure, Transparent, and Equitable State in Times of War and Post-War Reconstruction” (registration number: 0126U000544).
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractImproving fraud prevention processes requires systematic and ongoing efforts as part of implementing accountability, transparency, and integrity. By strengthening legislation and enhancing expertise, the government, audit companies, and financial management organizations must work together to establish an environment that lowers the likelihood of fraud. The goal of this study is to ascertain how internal audit, workload, and internal control affect auditors’ capacity to identify fraud. Seventy government auditors from Indonesia’s Supreme Audit Institution’s Principal Inspectorate, who had been employed for at least 2 years, were given Google Forms surveys to collect data for this study. Partial least squares (SmartPLS) with a significance level of 5% was used for the analysis. The results showed that internal audit (β = 0.419; p < 0.05) and internal control (β = 0.325; p < 0.05) had a beneficial effect on fraud detection. However, workload had no effect (β = 0.255; p > 0.05). The audit body can increase risk-based audit techniques by using the research findings about factors impacting fraud detection, which will enable auditors to concentrate more on areas with high fraud potential. In order to enable faster and more accurate fraud detection, the financial and development audit agency may also include these findings when developing technical audit standards based on information technology and data analytics. Consequently, this study directly aids the financial and development audit agency in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the audit process in detecting fraud.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractBudget credibility is a critical indicator of fiscal reliability in local governments, yet the mechanisms through which digital transparency enhances credibility remain poorly understood. This study examines how digital budget transparency influences perceived budget credibility in Indonesian regency and city governments, using performance information (technocratic mechanism) and procedural justice (normative mechanism) as two parallel mediating pathways. The technocratic mechanism reflects the instrumental application of budget data in planning and decision-making, while the normative mechanism reflects perceptions of fairness and legitimacy in budgeting processes. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling with data from 362 public officials (specifically heads of planning agencies, budget officials, and financial managers) across 33 regencies and city governments in North Sumatera, Indonesia, the study tests these dual pathways. Results show that digital budget transparency has only a modest direct effect on perceived budget credibility (β = 0.118), but exerts far greater influence through mediation. Procedural justice proved to be the primary mediating mechanism (indirect effect β = 0.081), with the use of performance information serving as a secondary pathway (β = 0.035). Multi-group analysis confirms that these relationships hold across both regency and city governments. The findings suggest that digital transparency by itself will not improve budget credibility. Its influence hinges on whether disclosed information actually gets used in decision-making and whether budgeting processes are perceived as fair. Reforms should, therefore, target both information usability and procedural legitimacy if they are to strengthen fiscal discipline in decentralized governance systems.
Type of the article: Research Article AbstractSustainable local revenue generation is fundamental for fiscal sustainability and effective service delivery within decentral-ized governance systems. This study investigates revenue trends, collection efficiency, the implementation of reve-nue-generation strategies, and ongoing challenges influencing fiscal sustainability in the municipality of La Trinidad, Benguet, the Philippines. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data were sourced from municipal records spanning 2014–2023 and surveys of 301 taxpayers and 24 revenue implementers. Qualitative insights were gathered through in-depth interviews with 10 key informants. The findings indicate a sustained increase in total municipal revenue, from PHP 278 million in 2014 to PHP 690 million in 2023, with locally sourced revenues comprising 45% of the total. Collection efficiency consistently surpassed annual targets, reflecting robust administrative performance. Nevertheless, the implementation of revenue-generation strategies was moderate. One-stop-shop systems and information campaigns were widely adopted, whereas electronic payment systems and enforcement measures, particularly property auctions, were implemented only minimally. Persistent challenges include unregistered businesses, inadequate monitoring of delinquencies, taxpayer resistance to reassessments, and institutional constraints in digital revenue administration. The results demonstrate that high collection efficiency may coexist with underutilized revenue measures and lenient enforcement, thereby constraining the full realization of revenue potential. This study contributes to the literature by underscoring the need to evaluate fiscal sustainability beyond target-based efficiency metrics and by highlighting the importance of institutional capacity, enforcement practices, and digital readiness in enhancing local revenue mobilization. These insights are pertinent for local governments in developing countries aiming to strengthen fiscal resilience within decentralized systems. AcknowledgmentThis study is made possible with the assistance of the local government of La Trinidad, Benguet, and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which provided the stipend. Acknowledgement is likewise extended to the LGU implementers and taxpayers for the critical data and their time.
The effectiveness of anti-money laundering systems is vital for national economic resilience, especially in transitional economies facing wartime challenges, such as Ukraine. This study aims to identify key managerial determinants of the effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system and to develop evidence-based recommendations for improving its performance. Based on data from Ukrainian national institutions for the period 2011–2023, the study employs principal component analysis and multiple linear regression to evaluate 44 statistical indicators related to institutional workload, procedural efficiency, and inter-agency coordination. The findings reveal that a small set of indicators, including the volume of suspicious transaction reports from non-banking institutions, the number of dossiers compiled, and the backlog of unresolved judicial cases, explain over 70% of the system’s output variance. The final model exhibits high explanatory power (R² = 0.963), underscoring the importance of prioritizing high-impact operational metrics. The study concludes that targeted procedural reforms and enhanced coordination between institutions can significantly strengthen AML/CFT outcomes in fragile and reforming contexts. AcknowledgmentThis study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (project No. 0123U101945 – National security of Ukraine through prevention of financial fraud and money laundering: war and post-war challenges).
