scholarly journals The politics of fiscal federalism: Building a stronger decentralization theorem

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-639
Author(s):  
Raúl A. Ponce-Rodríguez ◽  
Charles R. Hankla ◽  
Jorge Martinez-Vazquez ◽  
Eunice Heredia-Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Democratic Decentralization ◽  
Local Party

We explore how party structures can condition the benefits of decentralization in modern democracies. In particular, we study the interaction of two political institutions: democratic (de)centralization (whether a country has fiscally autonomous and elected local governments) and party (non)integration (whether power over local party leaders flows upwards through party institutions, which we model using control over candidate selection). We incorporate these institutions into our strong decentralization theorem, which expands on Oates (1972) to examine when the decentralized provision of public services will dominate centralized provision even in the presence of inter-jurisdictional spillovers. Our findings suggest that, when externalities are present, democratic decentralization will be beneficial only when parties are integrated. In countries with non-integrated parties, we find that the participation rules of primaries have implications for the expected gains from democratic decentralization. Under blanket primaries, Oates’ conventional decentralization theorem holds but our strong decentralization theorem does not. By contrast, when primaries are closed, not even Oates’ conventional decentralization theorem holds.

Primaries on Demand? Intra-Party Politics and Nominations in Ghana

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahomi Ichino ◽  
Noah L. Nathan
Keyword(s):  
Party Politics ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Primary Elections ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Local Party

In new democracies, why do political party leaders relinquish power over nominations and allow legislative candidates to be selected by primary elections? Where the legislature is weak and politics is clientelistic, democratization of candidate selection is driven by local party members seeking benefits from primary contestants. Analysis of an original dataset on legislative nominations and political interference by party leaders for the 2004 and 2008 elections in Ghana shows that primaries are more common where nominations attract more aspirants and where the party is more likely to win, counter to predictions in the existing literature. Moreover, the analysis shows that party leaders interfere in primaries in a pattern consistent with anticipation of party members’ reactions.

scholarly journals Political decentralization and local public services performance in Indonesia

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujarwoto Sujarwoto
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Service Performance ◽  
Local Public Services ◽  
Political Decentralization ◽  
Local Political Institutions

This study contributes to the existing decentralization literature by examining the association between political decentralization and local public service performance in the context of decentralization reform in Indonesia. The hypothesis is that improve local public service performance within political decentralization is associated with effective local political institutions and accountable local government. The hypothesis is tested using Indonesian Governance Decentralization Survey 2006 which consists of 8,320 households living in 120 local governments. Local government public service performance is measured by perceived improvement of three basic public services: basic education, health and general administration services. Multilevel analyses are applied to account for the nested structure of perceived public service performance within decentralized local government. The results show that effective local political institutions, better informed citizen and transparency, citizen political participation via community programs, and the presence of social group in community are significant for improving local public service performance. These results reveal after we control the model with household and local government socio-demographic determinants. The empirical findings suggest that improved local public services performance requires well functioning local political institutions, better informed citizens and transparent local government, and effective channels for political participation. 

More Shadow than Substance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Wright Rigueur
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Substance P ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Black Republicans ◽  
State And Local ◽  
American Party ◽  
Local Party

This chapter studies how, as the 1970s progressed, black Republicans were able to claim clear victories in their march toward equality: the expansion of the National Black Republican Council (NBRC); the incorporation of African Americans into the Republican National Committee (RNC) hierarchy; scores of black Republicans integrating state and local party hierarchies; and individual examples of black Republican success. African American party leaders could even point to their ability to forge a consensus voice among the disparate political ideas of black Republicans. Despite their ideological differences, they collectively rejected white hierarchies of power, demanding change for blacks both within the Grand Old Party (GOP) and throughout the country. Nevertheless, black Republicans quickly realized that their strategy did not reform the party institution.

First Meeting of the PIDE Committee on Devolution Reforms in Pakistan

2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-161
Author(s):  
Durre-e- Nayab
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Municipal Services ◽  
Fiscal Decentralisation ◽  
National Reconstruction

The Local Government Ordinance (LGO), formulated by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) in 2000 and promulgated by provincial governments in August 2001, assigns powers, responsibilities, and service delivery functions to three levels of local governments: district, tehsil, and union. Responsibilities for the delivery of social and human development services, such as primary and basic health, education and social welfare, are delegated to the district level, whereas municipal services, such as water, sanitation and urban services are assigned to the tehsil level. The LGO does not only deal with the delivery of public services in its plan but also stresses the need for fiscal decentralisation, claiming that “Fiscal decentralisation is the heart of any devolution exercise. Without fiscal decentralisation no authority is devolved.”

Towards flexible evaluation schemes in areas with lacking information: a case of waste governance in Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110179
Author(s):  
Dolores Elizabeth Turcott Cervantes ◽  
Beatriz Adriana Venegas Sahagún ◽  
Amaya Lobo García de Cortázar
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste Management ◽  
Stage Of Development

Local governments face the need to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services, and to do so, proper governance is essential. This work proposes a method to assess governance in local waste management systems based on a set of indicators that are flexible and robust enough to allow objective and reliable evaluation even where the information that is available is deficient. The proposal is based on a set of indicators divided into six categories that represent an increasing order of governance maturity: institutional framework; government effectiveness; transparency and accountability; network creation; participation; and corruption control. The article presents the proposal and a first test in two Mexican municipalities, which are an example of municipal solid waste management systems in an incipient stage of development, where there may be serious limitations in terms of access to information. The results show that the methodology can be replicated in different contexts and can be useful for making decisions about improvements in municipal solid waste management systems or for comparing them with others. In addition, sufficient information was obtained for a first diagnosis of the cases studied, which indicates the coherence of the proposed framework. Points for practitioners Proper governance is essential to achieve sustainability in the provision of public services. The assessment of local governance must be robust enough to motivate changes and, at the same time, flexible enough to allow reliable evaluation where the quality of service and the availability of information may be scant. We propose a new framework for the assessment of governance in municipal solid waste management systems that meets these requirements, based on a set of indicators clustered according to governance maturity.

Bargaining, Networks, and Management of Municipal Development Subsidies

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunsang Ha ◽  
Richard C. Feiock
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Organizational Networks ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Fiscal Impact

This article investigates why cities use fiscal analyses such as cost–benefit analysis and/or fiscal impact analysis to manage offers of economic development incentives to business. We advance an approach to understanding economic development subsidies and control mechanisms that integrate political bargaining and network theories. Municipal bargaining power, institutional incentives, and organizational networks are hypothesized to influence development subsidy decisions. The results confirm that local governments’ bargaining power and political institutions influence the degree to which cities use fiscal analyses. In addition, public/private organizational networks that bridge public and private sectors by linking quasigovernmental organizations and local governments increase information and credibility thus leading to greater use of fiscal analyses.

Provision of public services by Slovak local governments - Case study social protection – old age: A supply demand mismatch?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Černěnko ◽  
Klaudia Glittová
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Provision Of Services

The aim of the paper is to describe the supply of public services in the field of social protection - old age (represented by expenditures in group 10, class 2 of COFOG classification) in relation to the demand for these services represented by the population in the age group 62+ related to the size and region of the local government unit. The analysis of supply and demand takes place at the level of individual local governments and the results are then presented in relation to the size of the municipality and the region. Two approaches were used for the analysis. The first focuses on the description of the current situation through the categorization of local governments according to the approach to the provision of services, and the second consists in regression analysis. The results of the regression analysis suggest that the size of the municipality and the region do not play as important a role in terms of access to the provision of the examined services as indicated by the first, descriptive analysis. To find a "pattern" for local authorities to decide on access to services for the elderly, further research will be needed that takes into account several socio-economic indicators.

Party organization and gender in European elections

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea S Aldrich
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Selection Procedures ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Party Strategy ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Level I ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Elected Office

Political parties often monopolize the flow of politicians into elected office making it important to understand when, and under what conditions, parties are more or less likely to promote gender equality in representation. This article argues that party choices to nominate women in elections are conditional on the centralization of candidate selection within the party. Gender quotas and characteristics of the electoral environment have differential effects on candidate lists across party types. Leveraging data at the party level, I test when it is electorally feasible and organizationally possible for parties to nominate women for office. I find that candidate selection procedures condition the effects of party strategy and characteristics of the electoral environment on the percentage of women on electoral lists. The results provide insight into how strategic party choices, attenuated by electoral considerations and organization, impact the diversity of representation in political institutions.

Cooperation among Local Governments to Deliver Public Services

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 790-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Di Porto ◽  
Sonia Paty
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services

scholarly journals Leviathan or Public Steward? Evidence on Local Government Taxing Behavior from New York State

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin M Aldag ◽  
Mildred E Warner ◽  
Yunji Kim
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
New York State ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Fiscal Stress ◽  
York State ◽  
Expenditure Limitations ◽  
Logistic Regressions

Abstract Fiscal federalism argues local governments compete to provide optimal tax-service bundles as responsible public stewards. In contrast, Leviathan theories argue tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) are necessary to make local governments fiscally responsible. We analyze local taxing behavior in New York State, which implemented a levy limit in 2012 that allows legislative overrides with 60 percent vote of the local governing board. Our 2017 survey of all general-purpose local governments measured fiscal stress, service responses, and local political attitudes and found 38 percent of municipalities voted to override. Logistic regressions show local governments that have more fiscal stress, weaker property tax bases, higher need, and higher employee benefit costs are more likely to override. These findings support fiscal federalism, as local governments that override are pushing back against state policy in order to respond to local needs. TELs introduce unnecessary rigidity and run counter to the precepts of fiscal federalism.

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