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Cities Expert Professor Harry Kitchen Has A Hand in Local Government Reform in Russia and China |
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A faculty member in Trent University's Department of Economics since 1967, Professor Harry Kitchen is an authority on cities, both at home and abroad. He has been a provincially (Ontario) appointed commissioner for two major local government restructuring studies including one that lead to the creation of the City of Kawartha Lakes. The other was a review of regional government in the Region of Niagara in 1988-89. More recently, he has been consulting in Russia and China on behalf of the Government of Canada as well as the World Bank. And regardless of cities' recent repute, Prof. Kitchen says there are very few economists worldwide looking at local government. The attention cities are getting today is not going to subside anytime soon and the explanation for that is somewhat simple, says Prof. Kitchen. "Activity in Canada, as it is in other countries, is mostly in cities and it's that activity that's driving the economy," he says. In Canada, there is a focus on small cities, he explains, and how they're going to become economically viable in order to survive. And, while Prof. Kitchen has some suggestions, he says there are no straightforward answers, which will mean continued effort and experimentation. There is also the issue of decentralization, here in Canada and abroad. Some countries, Prof. Kitchen explains, like Russia and China, have more trouble than others accommodating decentralization simply because they have no local tax base to draw from. "Decentralization has elevated the local level to greater importance," he says. Prof. Kitchen has been in Russia four times in the last two years on a project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency to support the restructuring of the government there. He has worked with the Russian think tank The Institute for the Economy in Transition as recently as this summer to develop strategies for accounting, budgeting, financing services and structuring government. While the work is continuing, Prof. Kitchen admits there is no one-size-fits-all model or solution and in the case of developing financing structures, he believes form follows function. "Any system will work if the people want it to work," he says, adding he'll be heading back to Russia next year. Meanwhile, similar issues are at the forefront in China, where Prof. Kitchen has been working on behalf of the World Bank. The problems there, he explains, are not unlike those in Europe and North America, though some cities in China have populations of between 30 and 35 million along with unstable and almost non-existent tax bases. The goal of Prof. Kitchen's work in China is to try to make a case for local governance reform based on best practices worldwide. Prof. Kitchen's coveted expertise is based on an array of experience locally, provincially and nationally. Over the last fifteen years, he has chaired the Halton Regional Review; was the external advisor to the Advisory Committee To The Minister of Municipal Affairs in Ontario on provincial-municipal financing matters; was a member of the Economic Council of Canada's Advisory Committee on Government and Competitiveness; is a member of the Urban Finance Advisory Committee of the Canada West Foundation; is a member of the Advisory Board of the Local Government Studies Program, University of Victoria; was a member of the Advisory Committee on Service Statistics, Statistics Canada; and is a member of the editorial board of the Canadian Tax Journal. Meanwhile, Prof. Kitchen, who has published more than 100 articles, reports, studies and nine books over the last 25 years, is working on the terms of reference for a book with the World Bank's leading economist Anwar Shah. This book on local government will be used as a guide internationally for both courses and seminars. Last month, Prof. Kitchen was invited to present seminars on local government finance and delivery of services at a workshop in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This year, Prof. Kitchen is teaching Introductory Microeconomics, Introduction to public expenditure analysis and Canadian tax policy at Trent University. Posted November 30, 2004 |
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Cities are a hot topic these days, says a Trent University professor who should know. He's been studying them for more than 30 years.