Publications & Media Page

Detter & Co’s work on public assets, public balance sheets, public net worth and state capacity has appeared across leading financial, policy and international institutions,
including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, IMF, World Bank, ADB, McKinsey, OMFIF and Project Syndicate.
This page brings together selected articles, reports, media appearances and institutional references.

Financial and economic media

Barron's

No Money for Public Infrastructure? New Zealand Has the Answer

Governments Should Be Run More Like Businesses

The World's forgotten Asset Class

Bloomberg

New Zealand May Have a Solution for the World’s $100 Trillion Public Debt

How Governments Lose Trillions Mismanaging Property

Economist

Large economic gains can come from mundane improvements in policy

How to plug budget holes by managing public wealth better

The neglected wealth of nations - Cash-strapped governments are leaving riches by the wayside

Financial Times

Letter: Singapore’s disciplined balance-sheet management

Best summer books of 2024: Economics

On public finance, ignorance is not bliss

IMF urges governments to focus on assets

Lessons from New Zealand on fiscal discipline

America’s Governmental Accounting Standards Board is giving ruinously bad advice

US cities must unlock the value of the land they sit on

Public sector assets are a gold mine waiting to be tapped

Public sector needs to do a better job with assets

The FT’s best books of 2015 - Financial Times

Build houses on Britain’s wasted public land

The Public Wealth of Nations,

Swedish lessons for EU bank owners

Self-Assembly Solution

Sweden warned to simplify state sell-off

Welcome to the ways of the market

OMFIF

China overcapacity mirrors Europe underinvestment

Wars are won by capacity - Public assets are the overlooked advantage

Sri Lanka’s missing balance sheet

Bridging the sovereign balance-sheet gap

America’s hidden metropolitan real estate portfolios

Reconstruction as financial architecture: Ukraine’s capital market moment

Japan’s missing balance sheet

Visibility Needed in the UK’s Balance Sheet Blindness, Not Transparency

The West can learn from China’s investment approach

Revamping Public Accounting Rules to Spur Investment on Energy, Defence and Resilience

Funding future cities with sustainable non-tax revenue

Both Government Liabilities and Assets Matter for Sovereign Risk

Winning the post-pandemic peace

Project Syndicate

Fixing Public Finances Without a Chainsaw

A stronger recovery through better accounting

Unlocking public wealth

An infrastructure plan that would actually work

The Hidden Wealth of Cities

Reuters Breakingviews

Guest view: Governments need more accountants

Greek privatisation could produce double bonus

Wall Street Journal

New York Can Earn the Money to Pay for Better Subways

Wealth of Nations

Carney is Shooting at the Wrong Target

The Short History of an Old Idea

International institutions and public-finance platforms

How Accountants Can Help Save Public Finances

Mapping the Unknown

GFOA: Putting public assets to work

ADB: Public Commercial Assets: The Hidden Goldmine

IFAC Economic Growth: The World Needs Accountants

IMF Finance & Development Unlocking public wealth

IMF PFM Blog

Thinking Like an Accountant: Is that all bad?

The Public Wealth Fund: A Double-Edged Tool

Recruiting Non-Executive Directors to Manage Government-Owned Commercial Assets

Public Financial Management and Google Maps

Unexpected Help in Fiscal Distress

Exploring the Unknown: How Asset Maps Can Transform Public Financial Management

Why Public Assets Are Key to Debt Sustainability

How Government Equity Investments Can Help Boost the Recovery

How Better Management of Public Assets Can Boost the Recovery

Public Ownership of Commercial Assets — A Quarter Century Phony War

Inter-American Development Bank

Our Untapped Wealth: Toward Modern Management of Public Assets

Public Finance Focus

We’ve reached peak state capitalism – what comes next?

Professional management of public assets is the gateway to recovery

The day after tomorrow requires a modern Marshall Plan

Look to the professional management of assets for fiscal innovation

Modern accounting could restore faith in democracy

Public Finance International

Financial sector reform and public asset management – the case of Ethiopia

Public financial management 2.0

Public Finance Magazine

Does introducing Net Worth-based fiscal rules represent ‘a long walk for a small sandwich’?

Tilted balance: Making the most of public sector assets

WEF

Is this the simple solution that could fix public funding?

How cities can lead the way in bridging the global housing gap

2 simple steps that can unlock the hidden wealth of cities

Cities are struggling under the strain of their own popularity

World Bank Blogs

Uncovering hidden treasure: How asset maps can transform public financial management in MENA

Paying for development – Governments are sitting on a ‘goldmine’

A wealth of opportunities: Public real estate management as a tool for good governance

Reports, research and advisory platforms

Unlocking the Hidden Value of Public Assets - Social Science International

Civitas: Why the UK Doesn’t Have Sovereign Wealth Funds – And Reasons Why It Should

Social Science International

Ian Ball on Reforming New Zealand’s Public Financial Management System

2025-01-25

The Importance of the Balance Sheet in Managing Government Finances

Public Assets – Key to Meeting Fiscal Challenges

Restructuring the Swedish Government’s Portfolio of Public Commercial Assets

McKinsey & Co

Using public real estate to fuel a postpandemic recovery

2020-11-05

International Journal of Public Policy

The potential of state commercial property: mapping and managing non-financial public assets

2019-03-29

Citi (Global Perspective & Solutions)

Public Wealth of Cities - How to Turn Around Cities Fortunes by Unlocking Public Assets

Public Wealth of Nations

Unlocking the Value of Global Public Assets

Putting Public Assets to Work

Cities, infrastructure and public-sector media

'Wishful thinking' won't help health or infrastructure

U.S. local governments need more financial independence

Chicago Tribune

Don't want another parking meter deal, Chicago? Here is the smart way to fix infrastructure

2019-01-14

UK councils are taking huge commercial risks in trying to be hedge fund managers

The solution to the NHS funding crisis? Its property

Guardian

Cash-strapped cities, don’t seek private cash – sweat your own assets

2017-01-09

The Bond Buyer

An Urban Wealth Fund would revolutionize public finance

Foreign policy, think tanks and policy media

The Times (London)

NHS is sitting on the solution to its problems

2016-02-06

Foreign Policy

Getting a Handle on National Wealth - It’s time to unleash the untapped potential of public assets — and that doesn’t have to mean privatization.

2015-05-13

Foreign Affairs

Hidden Assets - How Countries Can Capitalize on Public Wealth

2014-11-24

Oxford University (Policy Blog)

RETHINKING THE PUBLIC WEALTH OF NATIONS - Oxford University (Policy Blog)

IMF and public-sector balance-sheet validation box

The Cost of Future Policy: Intertemporal Public Sector Balance Sheets in the G7

Shows how net-worth fiscal anchors can support investment and growth while maintaining debt sustainability.

2024

The Cost of Future Policy: Intertemporal Public Sector Balance Sheets in the G7

Shows why long-term public sector balance sheets matter for fiscal sustainability.

2021

Fiscal Monitor: SOEs - The Other Government

Highlights the macroeconomic importance of state-owned enterprises and the need for improved oversight.

2020

Public Sector Balance Sheet Strength and the Macro Economy

Institutional reference on the macroeconomic relevance of public sector balance-sheet strength.

2019

Fiscal Monitor: Managing Public Wealth

Shows the scale and fiscal importance of public assets and the potential gains from better management.

2018

Government Finance Statistics Manual

Consolidated the shift toward accrual-based public accounting, integrating assets and liabilities alongside cash reporting.

2014

Media, interviews and talks

Radio & Podcast

IMF Podcast

Monocle Podcast - Boosting prosperity in our urban centres

The Bond Buyer - An Urban Wealth Fund would revolutionize public finance

Historical implementation and early validation

Early coverage of Sweden’s active ownership reforms and the origins of the public commercial asset agenda.

This section supports the point that the work is based on implementation experience, not only commentary.

Swedish lessons for EU bank owners - Financial Times

Lessons from Sweden’s active ownership model.

2012-10-08

Sweden: Blazing the Reform Trail - BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas research note describing Swedish public-sector reform, restructuring of public corporations and implications for productivity and public resources.

2001-06-21

Sweden's active ownership policy - Privatisation International

Article on the Swedish Government's active ownership approach, restructuring and portfolio governance.

2000

Welcome to the ways of the market - Financial Times

FT Inside Track article on Sweden's active management of state-owned companies and Dag Detter's role leading the efficiency drive.

1999-11-12