background fiscal decentralization (fd) in many cases is encouraged as a strong means of improving the efficiency and equity in the provision of public goods, such as healthcare services. this issue has urged the researchers to experimentally examine the relationship between fiscal decentralization indicators and health outcomes. in this study we examine the effect of fiscal decentralization in...

This paper uses a difference-in-difference style estimation strategy to test separately the impact of competition from public sector and private sector hospitals on the efficiency of public hospitals. Our identification strategy takes advantage of the phased introduction of a recent set of substantive reforms introduced in the English NHS from 2006 onwards. These reforms forced public sector he...

Article history: Received 11 September 2007 Received in revised form 9 September 2008 Accepted 10 September 2008 Available online 16 September 2008 How does political decentralization affect the frequency and costliness of bribe extraction by corrupt officials? Previous empirical studies, using subjective indexes of perceived corruption and mostly fiscal indicators of decentralization, have sug...

fundamentally, public services must be of high quality so as to satisfy the wants and needs of the beneficiaries. but it’s worrisome to discover that in uganda, public services provided are of poor quality due to unethical behaviors and wanting leadership. the purpose of this study is to show that transformational leadership can advance ethical culture to spur provision of quality services. a r...

The issue of poor local government capacity has been considered one the problems impeding implementation decentralization, especially in developing countries. This study addresses this case Indonesia, a country that implemented massive decentralization (administrative, fiscal, and political) over last two decades. aims to provide empirical evidence for impact on public service delivery regime. ...

We examine the relationship between fiscal decentralization and the functional composition of public expenditures. Using a distance-sensitive representative agent model, we hypothesize that higher levels of fiscal decentralization induce agents to demand increased production of publicly provided private goods. We test this hypothesis using an unbalanced panel data set of 59 developed and develo...

Hungary has gone through a radical structural change after the fall of the socialist block in Central-Eastern Europe. Two basic processes dominated the transition: privatization and decentralization. The Hungarian experiences have given evidence that political decentralization of the state sector can have a substantial contribution to an efficient economic adjustment in the transitional recessi...

The impact of new technology on public-sector service delivery and citizens’ attitudes about government has long been debated by political observers. This article assesses the consequences of egovernment for service delivery, democratic responsiveness, and public attitudes over the last three years. Research examines the content of e-government to investigate whether it is taking advantage of t...

vii 1. Why Should We Worry about Decentralization? 1 2. Decentralization: A Complex Phenomenon 4 Why Is Decentralization Happening? 4 What Is Decentralization? 4 What Are the Implications of Decentralization? 6 Successful Decentralization Depends on Institution-Specific Design 7 3. Designing Decentralization: The Building Blocks of Fiscal Federalism 10 Assigning Expenditure Responsibilities 10 ...