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Selected Works

Fiscal decentralization

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Full-Text Articles in Other Economics

Fiscal Decentralization And Governance, John Thornton Dec 2011

Fiscal Decentralization And Governance, John Thornton

John Thornton

The literature on the economics of fiscal decentralization stresses the potential for both positive and negative effects on governance in a country. Using a data set comprising sixty-four developed and developing economies and several different measures of fiscal decentralization, the authors find that countries in which a larger share of fiscal revenues and expenditures are located at the level of subnational governments appear to be less corrupt. The authors also find that the beneficial impact of fiscal decentralization on corruption is mitigated in the presence of mechanisms enforcing vertical administrative decentralization. The results indicate that fiscal decentraliza- tion appears to …


Fiscal Decentralization And Fiscal Consolidations In Emerging Market Economies, John Thornton Dec 2009

Fiscal Decentralization And Fiscal Consolidations In Emerging Market Economies, John Thornton

John Thornton

Results using event study analysis based on a data panel of expenditure and revenue developments in emerging market economies during 1972–2001 indicate that subnational governments supported fiscal consolidation efforts by cutting their capital expenditure and increasing their revenues.


Fiscal Institutions And The Relation Between Central And Sub-National Government Fiscal Balances, John Thornton Feb 2008

Fiscal Institutions And The Relation Between Central And Sub-National Government Fiscal Balances, John Thornton

John Thornton

Skeptics of fiscal decentralization argue that it can complicate fiscal stabilization policies at the level of the central government because of uncoordinated fiscal actions by the national and sub-national tiers of government. However, panel data estimates for OECD economies suggest that this danger has been overstated in that changes in the fiscal balances of central and sub-national governments are highly positively correlated. This result partly reflects the success of institutional arrangements that govern intergovernmental fiscal relations and appears unrelated to the extent of fiscal decentralization.


Further Evidence On Revenue Decentralization And Inflation, John Thornton Mar 2007

Further Evidence On Revenue Decentralization And Inflation, John Thornton

John Thornton

Results from a panel regression study of 19 OECD member countries suggest that when the measure of revenue decentralization is limited to the revenues over which sub-national governments have full autonomy, its impact on inflation is not statistically significant.


Fiscal Decentralization And Economic Growth Reconsidered, John Thornton Dec 2006

Fiscal Decentralization And Economic Growth Reconsidered, John Thornton

John Thornton

Recent studies examining the relation between fiscal decentralization and economic growth have failed to take account of the extent of the independent taxing powers available to sub-national governments and thus have substantially overstated the degree of effective decentralization. Results from a cross section study of 19 OECD member countries suggest that when the measure of fiscal decentralization is limited to the revenues over which sub-national governments have full autonomy, its impact on economic growth is not statistically significant.