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Two Essays On Public Economics: The Consequences Of Fiscal Decentralization On Poverty And Inequality, And The Second Best Solution To The Public Expenditures’ Problem, Cristian F. Sepulveda

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two independent essays on public economics. The first essay studies the consequences of fiscal decentralization on poverty and income inequalities. This essay describes the possible channels through which fiscal decentralization might affect poverty and income inequalities, and carries out an empirical analysis with data of a large number of countries at different stages of development, for the period 1971-2000. Fiscal decentralization is found to have significant effects on poverty and income inequalities. These findings are important because they suggest, contrary to the traditional public finance theory, that sub-national governments can play an important role in the …