Government financial resilience – A European perspective

In a context where crises and shocks are becoming frequent, governments increasingly need to be aware of their financial resilience and its underlying dimensions. This chapter proposes a framework for understanding and assessing the financial resilience of municipalities, by jointly considering how types of shocks, financial vulnerabilities, anticipatory capacities, and coping capacities dynamically intertwine to shape responses to crises, and financial and non-financial performance. The chapter also highlights the main features of these dimensions in municipalities in the largest European countries (France, Germany, Italy and the UK), under recent crises. Finally, it reflects on how this research can inform practice and policy through the development of a governmental financial resilience toolkit.