Efficient logistics systems move essential medicines down the supply chain to the service delivery point, and then to the end user. Experts on logistics systems tend to see the supply chain as requiring centralized control to be most effective. However, many health reforms have involved decentralization, which experts fear has disrupted the supply chain and made systems less effective. There is...

While some recent evidence suggests that more decentralization is associated with reduced corruption, no empirical work has examined whether different types of decentralization have differential effects on corruption. The theoretical literature has emphasized that expenditure decentralization will only be effective if accompanied by the devolution of revenue generation to local governments. In ...

This paper revisits the influential “Leviathan” hypothesis, which posits that tax competition limits the growth of government spending in decentralized countries. It uses panel data to examine the effect of fiscal decentralization over time within countries, attempting to distinguish between decentralization that is funded by intergovernmental transfers and local taxation. First, it sets out a ...

This paper explores the link between fiscal decentralization and government size in Latin America. While most related work attempts to test Brennan and Buchannan's "Liviathan" hypothesis, here the emphasis is placed on a different channel: the potential for decentralization to aggravate the common pool problem. In addition to the degree of expenditure decentralization, we consider the importanc...

This paper revisits the well-known ...scal "Decentralization Theorem" of Oates(1972), by relaxing the role of the assumption that governments are benevolent, while retaining the assumption of policy uniformity. If instead, decisions are made by direct majority voting, the theorem fails. Speci...cally, (i) centralization can welfare-dominate decentralization even if there are no externalities an...

This paper contributes to the existing literature on the determinants of fiscal decentralization by motivating theoretically and exploring in depth the empirical relevance that geography has as determinant of fiscal decentralization. The relationship between decentralization and geography is based on the logic that more geographically diverse countries show greater heterogeneity among their cit...

There has been growing interest in fiscal decentralization in many developed and developing nations. There seem to be both (i) economic and (ii) political motives behind. Fiscal decentralization can be a way to cope with restructuring public sectors: it is expected to improving efficiency of public sector. Also, delegating power to a lower level government will make public policy more accountab...