These original essays highlight the state of knowledge in intergovernmental transfer design. They represent creative new thinking about challenging policy issues and offer useful options for policy makers. Five specific themes are covered in separate sections. They include: fundamental nature and objectives of equalization grants and their consequences on efficiency and equity; appropriate institutional setting for the design and implementation of equalization grant systems; challenges in the design of formulas with limited data availability for recurrent and capital purposes; coordination of equalization grants with other related policies; political economy behind equalization transfers.