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This study examines the effects of personal and corporate tax rate changes on the spread between pre-tax corporate bond yields and municipal bond yields, and provides evidence of tax clientele differences across bonds of different maturities and across bonds of different risk levels. Implicit tax theory suggests that the personal and corporate tax rate reductions of ERTA and TRA86 should reduce the yield spread between corporate and municipal bonds. The sample consists of 2,770 newly-issued taxable corporate bonds over the period 1979–1989. Each corporate bond issue is matched with a similar municipal bond issue. The implicit tax rate (ITR) is used to measure the spread between corporate and municipal bond yields, and is equal to the yield spread divided by the corporate bond yield.For the, full sample, reductions in the personal and corporate tax rates both decrease ITR. However, the results differ across tax regimes. prior to TRA86, changes in the personal and corporate tax rates have similar effects on ITR. Subsequent to TRA86, changes in the personal tax rate become more important and have a greater effect on ITR than changes in the corporate tax rate. The sample is also divided across time-to-maturity (short/long) and risk level (low/medium). Evidence suggests that: (1) prior to TRA86, the marginal investors in medium-risk, short-term bonds were corporations, while the marginal investors in low-risk, short-term bonds were both individuals and corporations; (2) prior to TRA86, the marginal investors in long-term bonds were both individuals and corporations, regardless of risk level; and (3) subsequent to TRA86, the marginal investors in both short-term and long-term bonds are individuals, regardless of risk level.

India launched Smart City Mission in 2015 with an objective of development of 100 smart cities with a completion deadline in 2019 that was extended till June 2023. Smart City Mission is an important mission in the backdrop that urban population in India is projected to be 67.55 crore in 2035 from 48.30 crore in 2020. Further, by 2035, the percentage of population in India at mid-year residing in ‘urban area’ will be 43.2% as per the United Nations – Habitat's World Cities Report 2022 and it will be just next to China's urban population in 2035 that is projected at 1.05 billion. A recent World Bank report (2022) estimated that India will need to invest US (United States) $840 billion over the next 15 years, i.e. US $55 billion per annum – into urban infrastructure if it has to effectively meet the needs of its fast-growing urban population.

This chapter focuses on financing of sustainable smart cities in India. This chapter summarises financing options explored by the government in the beginning, challenges faced in financing of Smart City Mission in India over a period due to various developments such as pandemic, delay in execution of projects under the Smart City Mission, among others. Finally, suggestions have been given for making financing means effective and sustainable. These suggestions are based on the gaps between the ‘financing means thought of’ in the beginning and ‘financing means actually applied’ while executing Smart City Mission in India. Financing part is worth exploring in the background that India had the fiscal deficit at 3.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015–2016 and most recently, the country had the fiscal deficit at 6.71% of GDP in FY22. And the country also dealt with the pandemic like other economies and provided COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all citizens. Insights are useful for any other economy with a similar sustainable and smart city mission while facing resource constraints.

Romania was a centrally planned economy until 1990. Over 1950 to 1975 large-scale government investments were made into heavy industry and hence productivity increased. Performance was measured against required production quotas rather than quality products that could be exported (Bacon, 2004). Compared to most other Central and Eastern European countries, Romania had little prior experimentation with market practices, so when the change occurred it was even more significant (Bacon, 2004). Romanians initially enjoyed their new economic freedoms and imported consumables previously not permitted. Inflation increased and workers sought higher wages, with consequential negative effects on output (Daianu, 2004). The government also expended large amounts, particularly foreign exchange reserves, prior to elections. Meanwhile, supranationals, such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), all funded Romania's burgeoning market economy. In 1993, a pyramid-type scheme offering huge returns for money invested for 3 years blossomed and became so large it rivalled gross domestic product (GDP) at the time. Hence the 1990s was a period of instability despite efforts to transform the economy to market practices.