Click HERE to register for the IACFS Conference 2022. Registration is necessary for both in person and virtual participation.

About the Conference

The IACFS 2022 Conference will be held on October 27 and 28 at the Bizkaia Aretoa in Bilbao, organised by the Ituna Center for Documentation and Research of the Economic Agreement and the Provincial Treasury (UPV/EHU).

The International Association of Centers for Federal Studies (IACFS), founded in 1977, is one of the leading international associations for research, dissemination and consulting on federalism. Currently, it has more than 30 affiliated centers or institutes from all continents and covers the main federal countries in the world.

The IACFS Annual Conference is one of the most important international academic events on federalism. At this year’s Conference, fiscal federalism, territorial inequalities and the management of subnational public finances will be studied and debated.

The Conference is open to the public with prior registration. Likewise, the event can be followed live via streaming on the Ituna Center YouTube channel or on the Bizkaia Aretoa website.

Konferentziari buruz

IACFS 2022 Konferentzia datorren urriaren 27 eta 28an egingo da Bilboko Bizkaia Aretoan, Ekonomia Itunaren eta Foru Ogasunen Ikerketarako Agiritegiak (UPV/EHU) antolatuta.

International Association of Center for Federals Studies (IACFS) 1977an sortu zen, eta federalismoari buruzko ikerketa, hedapen eta aholkularitza arloko nazioarteko elkarte nagusietako bat da. Gaur egun, kontinente guztietako 30 zentro edo institutu afiliatu baino gehiago ditu, eta munduko herrialde federal nagusiak hartzen ditu.

IACFSren urteko Konferentzia federalismoaren arloko nazioarteko ekitaldi akademiko garrantzitsuenetako bat da. Aurtengo Konferentzian federalismo fiskala, lurraldeen arteko desberdintasunak eta nazioz azpiko finantza publikoen kudeaketa aztertu eta eztabaidatuko dira.

Konferentzia jendearentzat zabalik dago, aldez aurretik izena emanda. Halaber, ekitaldia zuzenean jarraitu ahal izango da streaming bidez Ituna Agiritegiko Youtubeko kanalean edo Bizkaia Aretoaren webgunean.

Acerca de la Conferencia

La Conferencia IACFS 2022 se celebrará los próximos días 27 y 28 de octubre en el Bizkaia Aretoa de Bilbao, organizado por el Centro Ituna de Documentación e Investigación del Concierto Económico y las Haciendas Forales (UPV/EHU)

La International Association of Center for Federals Studies (IACFS), fundada en 1977, es una de las principales asociaciones internacionales en materia de investigación, difusión y consultoría sobre federalismo. Actualmente, cuenta con más de 30 centros o institutos afiliados de todos los continentes y abarca los principales países de carácter federal del mundo.

La Conferencia anual del IACFS es uno de los eventos académicos internacionales más importantes en materia de federalismo. En la Conferencia de este año se estudiará y debatirá en torno al federalismo fiscal, las desigualdades territoriales y la gestión de las finanzas públicas subnacionales.

La Conferencia está abierta al público previa inscripción. Asimismo, el evento se podrá seguir en directo vía streaming en el canal de Youtube del Centro Ituna o en la web del Bizkaia Aretoa.

Program (Download full program)

IACFS 2022 Conference at Bilbao – Fiscal federalism and territorial inequalities

THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER – DAY 1

08:30 Welcome and registration

09:00 Opening ceremony

• Francesco Palermo (President of the IACFS)
• Joseba Agirreazkuenaga (Director of Ituna Center)
• Gemma Martínez (Deputy Director for advising and tax policy of the Provincial Government of Bizkaia)

9:20 Session 1 – Fiscal Federalism, crises and financial imbalances

• Covid 19 and Fiscal Stress: An Analysis of States’ Finances in India – Ajay Kumar Singh (Centre for Federal Studies, Public Policy & Governance)
• Nigeria and the Practice of Federalism in the Post-Covid-19 Period – Dele Babalola (Canterbury Christ Church University)
• Australian Fiscal Federalism From the GFC to COVID-19 – Alan Fenna & John Phillimore (The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy)
• Borrowing to Compete: New Directions in Australian Fiscal Federalism in the Post-Pandemic Context – Tracy Beck Fenwick (Australian Centre for Federalism)
• Discussion

11:00-11:20 Coffee Break

• Long Covid in Public Finance? Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany – Christian Bender & Fabio Botta (Institut für öffentliche Finanzen und Public Management)
• Large Scale But Temporary: How the Federal Government’s Responses to the Great Recession and COVID-19 (Mostly) Maintained Continuity in American Federalism – John Kincaid (Lafayette College) & J. Wesley Leckrone (Widener University).
• Present and future of the decentralisation system in Spain: subnational public finances and interterritorial inequalities – Mikel Erkoreka (Ituna Center), Mario Kölling (UNED / Fundación Manuel Giménez Abad) & Mireia Grau (Institute d´Estudis de l´Autogovern)
• Fiscal decentralization after systemic crises: an analysis of the Brazilian experience – Silvana Gomes (Institute for Applied Economic Research)
• Discussion

15:00 Session 2 – Fiscal Federalism, a tale on diversity

• Fiscal autonomy in multilevel governance: tracing effects on legitimacy and stability – Maja Sahadžić (University of Antwerp)
• Update on Comparative Subnational Constitutional Law – Robert Williams (Center for State Constitutional Studies)
• State constitutions in the American federal republic – Brian Phillips Murphy & Nicholas Cole (Center for State Constitutional Studies & Quill Project, Pembroke College)
• Discussion

16:20-16:40 Coffee Break

• The Italian Constitutional Court decisions and state-regions conflicts in the ‘pendulum of regionalism’: a discontinuity design approach – Andrea Filippetti (Institute for the Study of Regionalism, Federalism and Self-Government)
• Unequal permanent austerity and the distribution of power in the Canadian federation – Olivier Jacques (CREQC-CAPCF)
• Legitimate Representation of Constituent Peoples – from Constitutional Principle to Attempts of its Electoral Denial – Milan Sitarski & Dražen Barbarić (Institute for Social and Political Research Mostar)
• Discussion

18:00 End of the Session 2

FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER – DAY 2

12:40 Ronald Watts Young Researcher Award ceremony

• Borui Song (The Australian National University)

15:00 Session 3 – Equalization, intergovernmental transfers and regional disparities

• Opening:
  • Itziar Agirre (Vice-minister of Treasury of the Basque Government)
• An overview of fiscal equalization – Andoni Montes, Jon Garro & Xabier Murua (Ituna Center / UPV/EHU)
• Paving the way to a successful equalization: does subnational participation matters? – Alice Valdesalici & Francisco Romero (Institute for Comparative Federalism – Eurac Research)
• Confronting territorial inequality among South African provinces and municipalities: the limits of fiscal equalisation systems – Nico Steytler, Jaap de Visser & Tinashe Chigwata (Dullah Omar Institute)
• Intergovernmental fiscal transfers, Regional States’ fiscal capacity and the fight against COVID19 pandemic in Ethiopia – Ketema Wakjira Debela (Center for Federalism and Governance Studies)
• Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations during the COVID 19 Pandemic in Germany: Was the new fiscal equalization scheme able to hamper financial dislocations? – Gisela Färber (Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung)
• The Fiscal Equivalence Trap – Don’t Decide, Don’t Pay – Eva Maria Belser (Institute of Federalism)
• Discussion

17:00-17:20 Coffee Break

• The Federal Equalization Program as a Controversial and Contested Policy Success – Daniel Béland, André Lecours & Trevor Tombe (Center of Governance at the University of Ottawa)
• Interpersonal and Interregional Redistribution in the Canadian Federation – Alain Noël (Université de Montréal)
• The Power of the Weak? Fiscal Redistribution Negotiations in Canada and the EU – Kinga Koranyi (Jacques Delors Centre)
• Territorial disparities, horizontal imbalances and fiscal federalism in Argentina. New evidences – Miguel Ángel Asensio, Florencia Martino & Pamela Jesica Fadul (UNL-IFANDCSC)
• Fiscal Federalism and Territorial Inequalities: India’s Experience – Govinda Bhattacharjee (Centre for Multilevel Federalism)
• Discussion

19:00 Closing ceremony

• Mikel Erkoreka (Ituna Center)